Overcoming Burnout (Part 1)
Nehemiah Weekly Devotional
Do you know that you can be doing God’s work and experience burnout?
Have you experienced burnout?
Are you committed to completing the call that God has for you?
| And Elijah was afraid and arose and ran for his life, and he came to Beersheba which belongs to Judah, and he left his servant there. But he himself traveled a day’s journey into the wilderness, and he came and sat down under a juniper tree and asked [God] that he might die. He said, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” He lay down and slept under the juniper tree, and behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” He looked, and by his head there was a bread cake baked on hot coal, and a pitcher of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. – 1 Kings 19:3-6 (NKJV) |
OVERCOMING BURNOUT (PART 1)
Burnout is a state of physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual exhaustion. It often has its beginnings in a “mountain top” experience, where a person is experiencing extraordinary success that has usually arrived after a long season of preparation, involving discipline and perhaps deprivation in the form of fasting or abstinence.
At some stage, this person who has been blessed with success and living in an exhilarated state will find themselves face to face again with the realities of ordinary, day-to-day life. It will probably not be easy to adjust to it after the dizzying heights of the mountain top. Also, after great spiritual victories, there can be a tendency to relax, temporarily take our eyes off the goal, and let our spiritual guard down, which can open us to spiritual attacks.
When this happens, our optimism and enthusiasm can dip, and we can become emotionally and physically tired, and also detach ourselves from the people, activities, and things that are usually important to us. From here, chronic exhaustion and depression can easily set in, along with despair, self-deprecation, anger, resentment, and loneliness – each of which feeds the other.
The lives of Elijah and King David illustrate both of these scenarios.
After Elijah’s great victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:17-40), for which he had spent 3 ½ years in intense spiritual preparation, he ran for his life after being threatened by Jezebel (1 Kings 19:1-3). He became so despondent that he asked God to end his life (1 Kings 19:4; also see 1 Kings Ch. 17-19ff. for context).
Throughout the Psalms, we see King David recording his exalted praise and worship of Almighty God, his great victories, and also his struggles and self-doubts. The great Apostle Paul, and even Jesus Himself, had moments where the weightiness of their missions seemed to almost overwhelm them (Paul: 2 Corinthians 4:7-11; 11:23b-28; Jesus: Luke 22:41-44).
But after strengthening themselves in God, each of these called and chosen vessels of the LORD resumed the course that was set before them, overcoming every challenge until their missions were complete.
The Bible is full of wisdom and practical guidelines that can help us maintain the victories and successes that we have won. The key to it all is maintaining our health – physical, spiritual, and particularly mental. No matter how willing our spirit (or our body) may be, if our mind is not willing or able to focus and engage due to fatigue, discouragement, or burnout, we will not be able to finish as God intends us to.
May God give us the wisdom to run our race and finish it well as the Apostle Paul did.
| But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. – Acts 20:24 (NKJV) |
| I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. – 2 Timothy 4:7 (NKJV) |
My prayer for you is that God will give you the grace and wisdom to run the race that he has given you to the finish as you serve Him in the marketplace.
This devotional is written by Pastor Steve Harris, the founder of Global Influencers, an organization that trains and equips leaders to establish anointed communities that transform nations by restoring Kingdom culture from grassroots to government in the villages, cities, regions, and nations of the world. He is also the Content Development Assistant in the Nehemiah Entrepreneurship Community.
Before reading the devotional, the message that kept coming to mind was the Elijah vs prophets of Baal saga.
Elijah would undoubtedly be charged for murder(Jezebel moving Ahab), plus one would have thought with the miracle on Mount Carmel and slaughter there would have been a revival, but there as nothing. These to mention a few got the man of God disillusionioned
The interesting thing was when Elijah called to be killed, God said nothing but told an angel to feed him instead.😊 Speaks volume about how much God knows about us, his understanding of our needs and what we are going through.
Burnout could happen to anyone, so being mindful of one’s circumstances, resulting on God and having the right support system is key.