Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Does God ever become tired? Weary? You may say No, because Isaiah 40:28 says He "neither faints nor is weary." But look again: that is speaking of His holding up the worlds, suns, galaxies, and of His comforting and strengthening us who "have no might" (vs. 29). Directly in context, the Lord says, "You have burdened Me with your sins, you have wearied Me with your iniquities" (43:24). And Malachi agrees: "You have wearied the Lord with your words" (2:17).
Do you suppose He is "weary" of human beings re-crucifying Christ century after century, millennium after millennium? Could He be tired of having to endure all the suffering of innocent people down through the ages? He says: "In all their affliction He was afflicted" (Isa. 63:9). We can turn off the TV news and the horrendous pictures, and go to sleep; but God can't go to sleep. He "will not slumber" (Psalm 121:3). He has to stay awake all night and share the sufferings of people whom He has created and redeemed.
The dear Lord gave us His seventh-day Sabbath so we can "rest," and it's a precious joy for us to turn off the TV when the Sabbath comes in at sunset Friday, and spend a quiet day of heaven on earth, "a day of rest and gladness." But the world doesn't keep the Sabbath; the suffering goes on. Can God keep the Sabbath with us? Hardly. Think of how He had to endure those 1260 years of persecution of His people (Dan. 7:25; Rev. 12:6, 14), and the almost incredible suffering of millions during the 20th century of "marvelous human progress"! Does God long for a "Sabbath" of rest for His soul?
The Bible says that such a "Sabbath" is to come for Him: the millennium of Revelation 20. In the meantime, it gives us pause to consider that the Lord may be weary with our continued spiritual infidelity, our worldliness while we profess to worship Him, like a wife who "treacherously departs from her husband" (Jer. 3:20). In Jeremiah's day the Lord's patience gave out, and He had to abandon His people to the mercies of Babylon because "there was no remedy" (2 Chron. 36:16). Yes, God is infinite; but His patience is not! As individuals we need to remember that, and also as a corporate "body," His church.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 23, 1999.
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