This post is the seventh installment in a series of posts on the spiritual perspective of burnout. You can read the rest of the posts on our blog.

A man of many friends will come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

Proverbs 18:24

I come from a family of gardeners. My grandfather was a botanist, and my grandmother kept a wildly beautiful garden in the heart of South Texas. Unless you have visited the arid plains of the Rio Grande Valley, you cannot fully appreciate the hard work she put into that beautiful garden refuge. Together, my grandparents would plant, cultivate, and painstakingly label each species of flora. And because their garden was a refuge, it become a sanctuary of sorts for the local fauna. Often chachalacas, bunnies, birds and myriads of butterflies, seeking rest and refuge, could be found in the vibrant shade of the garden.

A few years ago, I also began to garden seriously. Every day, I get up at dawn and water, fertilize, and prune my humble backyard garden. That first year I had no idea how hot it would get and how much work it would be to keep my plants alive and thriving in one of the hottest summers on record. Weeks of no rain and temps over 105 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit is extreme, even for Texas.

One morning, as I was watering and talking with the Lord, I asked for rain. He responded with a profound perspective of drought. He said to me that extreme circumstances, like drought, make it very clear where the gardens are. The spaces that are cared for and cultivated are quickly evident when the skies stop showering their life-giving rain on increasingly thirsty plants.

You see, it is in the most trying of circumstances that prove whether or not you have chosen your allegiances well or poorly. Because when you are under the shadow of God’s wing, God ensures you will thrive, whether in seasons of plenty or drought.

King David was no stranger to exhaustion, grief, sorrow, and the dark night of the soul. Yet, we have a whole book of songs that are raw and hopeful. He is brutally honest about the darkness he often finds himself in. And conversely, he is equally hopeful as he clings to the promises of God. Psalm 18 was written when King David was delivered from the snares of all his enemies.

In it he sings,

The cords of death encompassed me;

the torrents of destruction assailed me;

the cords of Sheol entangled me;

the snares of death confronted me.

In my distress I called upon the LORD;

to my God I cried for help.

From his temple he heard my voice,

and my cry to him reached his ears.

…

For it is you who light my lamp;

the LORD my God lightens my darkness.

For by you I can run against a troop,

and by my God I can leap over a wall.

This God—his way is perfect;

the word of the LORD proves true;

he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. (Psalm 18:4-6,28-30 ESV)

It was in the hopeless circumstances that David found peace and refuge in God, like a deer escaping the hunter in a lush garden, abundant with shade, spaces to hide, food, and water. This, too, is what is available to us. We, too, can escape the snare of burnout and find rest, safety, and nourishment in God.

The Apostle Paul encourages us in Romans 8:31 when he says, “What shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Here is the thing. Paul knows our human inclination to doubt God when things go poorly or when we are weary or exhausted. When we are at the end of ourselves, it’s so easy to believe the lie that God is not for us.

But why do we automatically default to believing that God’s favor of us is revealed through our circumstances? Why do we believe our circumstances dictate God’s character? The drought is not an indicator of the attention or care of the gardener, but rather, the livelihood of the garden is the indicator of care. If a garden can flourish in record-breaking heat, then is not the gardener attentive and caring?

This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him

and saved him out of all his troubles.

The angel of the LORD encamps

around those who fear him, and delivers them.

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!

Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints,

for those who fear him have no lack!

The young lions suffer want and hunger;

but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

…

When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears

and delivers them out of all their troubles.

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted

and saves the crushed in spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous,

but the LORD delivers him out of them all. (Psalm 34:6-10, 17-19 ESV)

But what about all the horrible, horrific, awful circumstances that we find ourselves in? What about the illness, grief, exhaustion, depression, anxiety, ridicule, etc., that we are currently living in? does it mean nothing?

“No, but in all these things, we prevail completely through the one who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, not life, not angles, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37-39, author’s emphasis)

Love.

His love. It never leaves or abandons us. It is bigger than our circumstances. His love carries us into eternity and is stronger than any power in all of creation!

“Therefore, we do not lose heart, but even if our outer person is being destroyed, yet our inner person is being renewed day after day. For our momentary light affliction is producing in us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure and proportion, because we are not looking at what is seen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is not seen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

How does God exercise this love in our hearts and through our circumstances? Through suffering. Through the burnout. Through the weariness, depression, or exhaustion. Suffering grows the buds of love for God that are woven through our minds, hearts, and will during seasons of suffering. With each season, each escape into his refuge, we are transformed little by little from worries, hopelessness, and exhaustion to gardens of love.

One day, we will realize we have been transformed into a flourishing plant, abiding in the garden of God, radiant in his love. What was once burnout will be transformed into an oasis of love, one more tenacious in life than it ever was in burnout.

So friends, run to him, and if you can't run or even walk, cry out to him! He will rescue you. He will transform your heart and life from being bound and crippled by burned-out weariness to whole and thriving.

Grace and Peace in the Shadow of the Almighty

Rest and Peace in Scripture

Escaping the Snare of Burnout