Margins
From Burnout to Blessing
Pt 2 – Coping, a Temporary Fix
Isaiah 30:12-17
We are talking about margins. Remember that margin is defined as the space between your load and your limit. Last week we talked about the reasons and results of living too close to our limits. Stress, fatigue, and burnout are the predictable results of living for too long without margins. We have learned as a society to prolong the suffering. To increase the time we can spend at our limits by using a temporary fix – coping. It doesn’t solve the problem or change the results it just prolongs the inevitable.
Israel is facing the same kind of problem in Isaiah 30. It’s not a chapter about burnout but it is a parallel to what we are going through. Israel learned to cope with it’s problems like we do – but God reminds them that the results are the same.
Isaiah 30:12-17
Israel coped with its enemies by making alliances with Egypt – trusting in something other than God to protect them.
So how do we cope with margin-less living?
1)Speed –As we live closer to our limits the only way we can cope with the increased demand is by speeding up. We sleep less, we work and play more – not all of our limits are work related some of them are play related. We rush from one thing to another at breakneck speed. Most of us are constantly running late for something because we simply plan too much. But it all has to fit. So we eat on the run, we communicate by cell phone, we text, we pass as ships in the night and we wonder why life, marriage, and parenting are not fulfilling. Hmmm. I must say that I am in agreement with the DOT slogan “speed kills”. It kills marriages, relationships, hopes, and joy. We miss so much because we are going so fast.
2)Substitution –What we cannot deal with by speeding up we deal with by substitution.
Joy – Numbing – Alcohol and drugs from caffeine to cocaine fill our lives to numb the pain and help us cope with the stress. If you can’t sleep then substitute caffeine or cocaine – If you are too stressed to sleep then have a drink to relax or some sominex. There is a pill for everything. Let me tell you something there is a difference between having a drink and needing one. One you own the other owns you.
Intimacy –Casual Sexuality – Marriages are distant and cold so instead of fixing the problem we simply unload one for another. Adultery doesn’t start in the bedroom it starts when someone understands you more than your spouse. No limits leads to broken relationships.
Rest – Adrenaline – We have become a nation of adrenaline junkies. We are so used to abnormal amounts of adrenaline pumping through our bodies just to keep us going that it takes more and more to feel the surge. So we start doing stupid things, taking stupid risks just to feel the rush.
Real - Counterfeits –Counterfeit intimacy – Internet, Counterfeit Passion – Pornograpy, Counterfeit Money – Credit. The list goes on and on.
Israel is being berated by Isaiah for giving their lives over to substitutes, counterfeits in the game of life. They were giving over the safety and security of God for the counterfeits of Egypt. Fast horses and chariots were taking the place of the hand of God. And when it is all over listen to what God says to Israel about trusing in counterfeits, “You will be left like a lonely flagpole on a hill or a tattered banner on a distant mountaintop.” Sound like your life?
3)Suffering – the third coping mechanism is simple suffering –we plod along through life with no joy, no passion and no peace. We grind away complaining, griping, and murmuring but never getting any better. We walk down the lonely road to burnout wishing for something better but never really believing that it exists.
And yet listen to God
You’ve got to live His way – 30:1-2 – You can’t live life your way and expect to live in the blessings of God. You have to live His way. His way is balance and margin in life.
You’ve got to rest in Him - “Only in returning to me and resting will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength.” God invites us back to Himself. All the I have tos… and I need tos… need to take a back seat to the comfort and strength of God’s purpose and plan. He will work it out.