Obeying God - Hard or Easy?

"You also say, ‘Oh, what a weariness!’" 

(Malachi 1: 13) 

What a burden! How tiring to keep God's commandments! This is what the unsaved religious man says concerning the service of God. Even true believers are often heard to murmur such words when they become weary in doing all that God commands of them. After all, there is a lot to do! Got to read, pray, and study God's word every day. I got to work, support my family. I got to spend play time with my spouse and children. I got to go to two or three meetings at the church each week. So much to do and so little time and energy! 

Most other translations of Malachi 1: 13 say "what a burden!" The idea is the same. It is a complaint against the Lord, affirming that God is demanding too much of them as his servants. This complaint is never really valid. It only reveals the state of the murmurer and complainer. 

Testified the apostle John:

"For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous."
 (I John 5: 3 kjv)

Again, many translations have "his commandments are not burdensome." This is so true. The reason, therefore, that many find God's commandments and service a weary burden, an odious chore, is because there is something defective in those people. It reminds me of that time when the Lord had requested that his disciples watch and pray and then came and found them asleep. (See Matt. 26: 36-41) He says to them "the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." The flesh (the term for the carnal nature) does judge service to God and obedience to righteousness as a drudgery, as something too difficult. The carnal man thinks that a life of religious service to God is a waste of time, taking all the fun out of life. He finds pleasure in his sins (Heb. 11: 25), and has no delight in God. Were his delight in the Lord and his law, and his word, he would not become so weary in obeying and serving. 

Many scriptures speak of delighting in God and in his word. Psalm 1 promises prosperity to the person who delights in the law of the Lord day and night. Later in the Psalms the Psalmist said:  "Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart." (Psa, 37: 4) And, "I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word...Your testimonies also are my delight And my counselors." (119: 16, 24) 

Obviously there are times when believers become weary in their service to God and such is not a sign or symptom of spiritual deformity but is simply because the believer is working too hard and not giving enough time to rest and recuperation. Even Christ became weary. (John 4: 6) So too did his disciples and he said to them "come apart and rest awhile." (Mark 6: 31) Many of the Lord's servants "burn the candle at both ends" and fail to obtain the necessary amount of rest. So it was with Epaphroditus, of whom Paul said: "for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me."

Believers are warned that they must "endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." (II Tim. 2: 3) Service to the Lord will not always be easy. In fact, it oftentimes involves hard work and hard times. But, again, if we love the Lord and his service, it will not seem so. If we enjoy the work we are doing, it is then enjoyable rather than wearisome. 

According to the text at the head of this article, we ought not to become "weary in well doing." We ought not to "faint," but to keep strength. So, how can we keep from wearing ourselves out in doing right? How do we keep our strength up? 

So, why is it hard to tell the truth? Why is it so hard to put God first in our lives? Why is serving God and living right tiresome and of ill delight to us? Is it not because we are morally and spiritually weak and impotent? When a person falls in love with another it becomes an easy thing to do things for the beloved. So too when one falls in love with Christ, with God, and he then can say "I delight to do your will O my God." (Psa. 40: 5) The apostle advised us in this matter, saying "by love serve one another." (Gal. 5: 13) Being of service to those we love is much easier than serving those we care nothing about.

Is it hard to keep from lusting, from coveting, etc.? Does it weary you in the fight with sin? Then go to Jesus for strength and for help. Also, keep your eyes on the prize. Those who win in the Olympics are they who worked hard and exhausted themselves in practice and they were able to endure the rigors of such training by keeping their eyes on the prize. So too does the apostle advise us. (Phil. 3: 13-14) Also, we should learn to pace ourselves, realizing the kind of race we are in as servants of righteousness. We are not in a 100 yard dash, which is why Solomon said - "the race is not to the swift." (Eccl. 9: 11). Rather, the Christian race is a long distance marathon. That is why we must "run the race with patient perseverance" (Heb. 12: 1). 

Remember that Christ says "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matt. 11: 30) A good song that sings this truth is titled "His Yoke Is Easy" can be heard (here).

Well did one say of Spurgeon on the question of weariness in service to God (See here):

"Charles Spurgeon knew that even the greatest of saints, “in toiling towards heaven often grow faint.” Paul knew this as well. He tells of his many burdens to the Corinthian church: the “toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night….” and “the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.” (2 Cor. 11:27-28) Though we might not be “weary of God’s work….we often grow weary in it.”

So Paul would later say:

"And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved." (II Cor. 12: 15)

Spending in service to the Lord is rewarding. What a paradox! Spending to become rich! 

"One crisp November evening in 1877, Spurgeon addressed the Sunday School Union. His address was titled “The Cause and Cure of Weariness in Sabbath School Teachers,” and his text that evening was Gal. 6:9, “Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Towards the end of the address, he encouraged those teachers who had grown weary in their work. He urged them to “Pluck up courage. Do not be a coward. Hope on, Hope ever. Work on, even though the task becomes more and more trying to you. Do not despise your vocation, nor stay your hand, be not weary in well doing.” (Ibid)

Excellent advice! Citing Spurgeon the author says:

"As we pursue Christ by living as citizens of his Kingdom, “there are such fresh things in the Christian’s experience…that we run and are not weary.” As God fed the grumbling Israelites in the wilderness and “‘day by day the manna fell,’ so hour by hour fresh grace streams into our souls.” Come to Christ for “He has never refused to bear your burdens, He has never fainted under their weight.” In the midst of our weariness and fatigue, let us heed Spurgeon’s invitation to, “Come hither, all ye sin-sick ones, and behold the glorious Son of God, made in the likeness of human flesh, breathing out his life upon the cross!” and surrender ourselves “….into those dear hands which were pierced for [us].”

Christians who are doing the will of God, obeying his teachings and commands, will grow weary if they do not regularly and daily seek and find rest and recuperation in Christ. In him is rest for the weary worker, the source of refreshment, regeneration, and renewing. He is the thing that sweetens our arduous labors for him and godliness. He makes the job easy and rewarding. Honest hard toil for the Master is greatly rewarded by the Lord Jesus Christ. His service brings joy and gladness that is inexpressible. (I Peter 1: 8) The happy servant of Christ receives, for his labors, great reward, both now and forever in the future. Said the Lord Jesus:

"And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting." (Luke 18: 29-30)

It is good to serve God for the good that results from it. Many of those good things come "in this present time," during the term of service (in a person's lifetime). It is rewarding work, enjoyable and fulfilling work. It goes beyond this life for it brings eternal benefits and rewards, yea, "life everlasting." The believer's life's work for Christ and righteousness is "not in vain" says the apostle (I Cor. 15: 58) and should be kept in mind as one labors for Christ and for God. He also testifies that God is "a rewarder of them who diligently seek him," (Heb. 11: 6) rewards that come in one's life for the Lord while living, and eternal rewards that come after this present life, when one transcends into eternal life and blessedness. 

"Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." 

(I Cor. 15: 58)