"Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly." Isaiah 40:30 NAS

Do you feel like a vigorous young man or women? This verse goes along with the last devotional in regards to being weary and relying on the increasing strength of the Lord to carry you through. This speaks about the strength and stamina of young men. That is why young men go through boot camp in the military so that their strength and stamina is trained for long lasting days on the battlefield. When you are a youth of course you are stronger, have more energy and are able to last longer under physical activity or strain. When we are very young we are of the mindset that we are invincible also.

From early childhood we believe that we are never tired. Whenever I ask my boys the question, especially my youngest, "Are you tired?" His answer is 95% of the time, "No". Why is it so hard for him to admit he is tired and stumbling? I can see it all over his little face. Is it because he knows that depending on the time of day he may have to take a nap? The fact is that we are the same way. We don't want to admit that we are tired or exhausted.

We may not want others to see that in us for fear that it might show weakness. We may feel spiritually vigorous and others may view us that way too. This can have a negative impact on us though in how we respond to the question, "How are you doing?" Too often we put on what I call, “church face.” It is that crying inside while smiling outside act we put on when we go to church. We should however never put on church face when we are actually weary and exhausted either in our bodies or in our hearts and spirits.

There are those who you know who seem to be spiritual giants. You might even think they never seem to stumble and crumble. Maybe you think you will never serve as much as they do? Maybe you look at your situation and wonder how they seem to be so strong in the Lord? They are vigorous men and women in Christ and that is it. The fact is though that the most vigorous of Christians will fall and fail. The strongest of Christians become weary and need a break to be refueled.

Another thing you might have seen is when someone first accepts the Lord as their Savior they get set on fire for the Lord. They run around trying to serve in every capacity and their fire almost annoys you because you might be going through a dry time in your own walk. When we become new believers there is a new vigor that occurs in our souls. As time and testing come along though even when we think we are at our strongest in Christ we may fall. We may think we don't need a spiritual nap. By looking at us though it is clear that we need some down time.

So we can be encouraged because no matter how vigorous we are whether young or old in the Lord we will all stumble and fall. We will all get weary and weak at times. We will all fall to temptations, weakness and our war waging flesh at times. We all who truly know the Lord, will in our spirits be willing, but in our flesh be weak. The Lord knows us intimately and it is no shock to Him. What we have to do is guard is our pride that will not admit weakness or failure.

We need to be able to humble ourselves and admit when the battle becomes too much. We need to have brothers and sisters who we can call and be transparent with. In church we should be able to wipe off church face when we feel like vigorous young men who are stumbling badly. One thing we can do is remember Galatians 6:9 which says, "And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary (NAS)."

Don't feel alone when you are in the place of stumbling. Others have, are or will go through it too. May you have a wonderful weekend in His everlasting grace.

In His Strength,
Adam