When the tank is empty

There are seasons when the demands of life simply outpace our ability to meet them.

Paul knew something about this. Writing from prison, he said: “…I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want,” (Philippians 4:11-12, NIV).

Notice that word learned. Contentment in all things wasn’t something that came naturally to Paul. It was something he had to be taught, through experience, over time.

Hudson Taylor, the 19th-century missionary who gave everything he had to China and then some, put it this way: “It does not matter how great the pressure is. What really matters is where the pressure lies — whether it comes between you and God, or whether it presses you nearer His heart.”

That is the question worth sitting with in the hard seasons. Not how do I get out of this, but is this pressure drawing me closer to God or pushing me further away? Exhaustion has a way of becoming an unexpected invitation if we let it.

Here’s the secret Paul learned:

“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

Philippians 4:13, NIV

Leaning in,