The pressures of ministry--they are many. I remember the last couple of years before my pastor retired. The years of dealing with other people's problems were taking their toll. His health was not good--the problems seemed to get bigger--the ability to adapt and change and adjust became less and less. He really needed to retire when he did. It was just too hard to take all the pressures anymore.
Just yesterday, when I got in my car, I thought to myself, "I need a vacation--bad." The pressures of life and ministry seem to compound for the minister. We too have problems of life with job (church), family, taxiing, serving, financial pressures and attempting to find peace in the midst of hectic life.
I realized yesterday that a minister constantly has problems. Most of us just have our own problems or the problems of our family to deal with, and then they pass for a while. But the minister constantly has people in the hospital, people dealing with the death of loved ones, people dealing with family crises and divorces and financial constraints. Constantly--always--on-going. There seems to be no or at least, very little let-up. And all this with his own personal crises as well. Look at your church's prayer list to see the constancy of the problems that your pastor deals with. The prayer list never seems to get smaller.
Psalm 27:1, "The LORD is my light and my salvation-- ... The LORD is the stronghold of my life ..." And Psalm 27:13-14, "I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness o the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD."
The apostle Paul once talked about this--all the pressures of doing what he did, and the pressure he felt for the churches he began and served. Today it is no less easy. We are in the midst of a massively changing nation, with the Christian values many of us grew up with being challenged, fought against, and believed less and less each day, it seems. We see dwindling churches and the need to do things differently when that's not the way we learned it or have ever seen it. And all the while, the enemy working through both unbelievers and believers alike.
It is hard to care, at times. Some call it "compassion fatigue." Getting tired of caring because it doesn't seem to be getting you anywhere--just more problems. When you care, it is easy to let the pressures eat you.
But the advice of the Psalmist is to "take a vacation." The vacation is to seek help from the LORD. He is "my light and my salvation." He is "the stronghold of my life." He will help one--even a minister "see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living." But what must the minister--the Christian architect--the believing lawyer or contractor do? He or she must "wait on the LORD." Spend time with the LORD to gain perspective again--to find "rest for our weary souls"--to provide the vacation we need--the sabbath--the "restoration."
This is really a good thought. Now all I need to do is "heed it"--and that's the hard part.
How do you make time to "wait on the LORD" and gain strength, perspective, hope?
