When you are tired

²⁴ And Judah and all its cities will dwell together in the land, the farmers and those who move with the flocks,

²⁵ for I will refresh the weary soul and replenish all who are weak.”

³ And Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there,

⁴ while he himself traveled on a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”

⁵ Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”

⁶ And he looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again.

⁷ A second time the angel of the LORD returned and touched him, saying, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.”

⁸ So he got up and ate and drank. And strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.

¹⁷ But Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good.

¹⁸ Surely you and these people with you will wear yourselves out, because the task is too heavy for you. You cannot handle it alone.

Therefore strengthen your limp hands and weak knees.

For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said: “By repentance and rest you would be saved; your strength would lie in quiet confidence— but you were not willing.”

²⁴ And Judah and all its cities will dwell together in the land, the farmers and those who move with the flocks,

²⁵ for I will refresh the weary soul and replenish all who are weak.”

Return to your rest, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.

In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for bread to eat— for He gives sleep to His beloved.

And David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of every man grieved for his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.

¹² And the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon and said, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

¹³ “Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the LORD brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”

¹⁴ The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Am I not sending you?”

Then Nehemiah told them, “Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send out portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

⁷ The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart rejoices, and I give thanks to Him with my song.

⁸ The LORD is the strength of His people, a stronghold of salvation for His anointed.