There is a particular kind of exhaustion that doesn’t come from hard labor or illness. It comes from simply being “on” for too long. Thinking. Planning. Listening. Creating. Responding. Showing up. Encouraging others. Meeting deadlines. Carrying responsibilities that nobody else fully sees.
And sometimes, after all of that, we sit down with a cup of coffee, stare at a blank screen or empty notebook, and discover that the mind has simply gone quiet.
Not peaceful quiet.
Empty quiet.
I’ve been writing this devotional column almost every Sunday for five years, and today I am uninspired. My brain is totally devoid of thought, much less original thought. I’m not angry. I’m not depressed. I’m not even a little bit upset. I’m just…empty.
I’ve been busy this morning. I made dessert for an event we’re attending tonight. The laundry is mostly finished. I’ve replayed the events of this week in my mind: conversations with friends, sermons I’ve heard, a Bible study, a prayer breakfast yesterday morning at 7:00.
And now I’m sitting here trying to think of something meaningful to say.
Nothing.
My brain is tired.
Maybe you know that feeling, too.
We sometimes assume that inspiration is supposed to arrive on command, especially when it comes to spiritual things. Surely if we pray enough, study enough, serve enough, and love God enough, our minds and hearts should always feel full and vibrant.
But Scripture paints a different picture of humanity.
Even faithful servants of God became weary.
Elijah stood courageously against the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, calling down fire from heaven in one of the most dramatic moments in Scripture. Yet immediately afterward, he collapsed under a tree and asked God to let him die.
“But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life’” (1 Kings 19:4).
What did God do for Elijah?
He didn’t lecture him. He didn’t shame him. He didn’t demand another miracle.
God let him rest.
God fed him.
Sometimes the holiest thing a person can do is admit he is tired.
We often glorify the multi-tasking that has become a part of modern life, especially among church people. We fill calendars, volunteer for committees, answer texts late at night, rush from work to worship to errands to obligations, and then wonder why our souls feel threadbare.
Even Jesus stepped away from crowds.
“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:16).
If the Son of God needed quiet, rest, and solitude, maybe we shouldn’t feel guilty when our minds occasionally wave a white flag.
The truth is that inspiration is not a machine we control. Creativity, wisdom, encouragement, and insight are gifts from God, not products we manufacture by force.
There is also something humbling about realizing we are finite.
We do not have endless emotional reserves. We do not have endless mental energy. We do not have endless words.
And perhaps that is exactly the point.
The Apostle Paul wrote:
“My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
We usually think of weakness as dramatic suffering or visible hardship, but ordinary mental fatigue counts, too. The inability to “pull ourselves together” and produce brilliance on demand reminds us that we are dependent creatures—sometimes God allows emptiness so we will stop relying on ourselves.
There is another comforting truth hidden inside uninspired days: God does not require constant performance from His children.
We are loved even when we are tired, when the words won’t come, when the prayers feel clumsy.
We are Loved when our thoughts are scattered between laundry loads and grocery lists and wondering whether “rack” or “wrack” is the correct spelling in the phrase “rack my brain.”
(For the record, apparently both can work.)
Maybe today’s devotion is not really about being uninspired after all. Maybe it is about giving ourselves permission to be human.
Ecclesiastes reminds us:
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
There are seasons of overflowing creativity and seasons of quiet depletion. Seasons when our hearts burn brightly and seasons when we simply sit in God’s presence holding a cup of coffee, too tired to form eloquent thoughts.
And God remains faithful in every season.
The beautiful thing about Scripture is that it never pretends that God’s people are endlessly energetic superheroes. The Bible is filled with weary travelers, discouraged prophets, frightened disciples, grieving friends, and exhausted servants.
But God continued to use them.
Maybe He can even use us most effectively, not when we are impressive, but when we are honest.
So if you feel uninspired today, maybe you do not need to panic. Maybe you just need rest. Maybe you need silence. Maybe you need to stop demanding brilliance from yourself for a little while.
And maybe God is perfectly capable of speaking through even tired hearts and ordinary words.
After all, He did today.
“Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28
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