Breathe in, Breathe Out

“And the king, and all the people that were with him, came weary, and refreshed themselves there.” (2Sa 16:14 AV)

 

David was on the run from his son Absalom.  Absalom resented his father because David did not immediately render judgment on Amnon, his half-brother, for raping his sister.  Absalom sat at the gate of Jerusalem and judged the people in the stead of his father, and in the process, stole away the hearts of the people.  Rather than enter into a costly war that would have destroyed Jerusalem, David thought the better plan was to remove to the wilderness.  If there were to be a battle, it would be better in the wilderness where less destruction and less death would be the result.  As they fled, a man named Shimei threw rocks and dirt at David and his men.  Being from the tribe of Benjamin and of the house of Saul, Shimei cursed David as he traveled through the land.  David’s men offered to ascend the hill and take off his head.  But David wisely let him be.  This harassment continued all the way to the wilderness.  It went on and on.  There seemed to be no stop to it.  They had left their families, and their homes, and now they are being badgered by a shallow and bitter person.  Our verse tells us they came weary.  They did not arrive at their destination in a state of strength.  Just the opposite.  So, they did what they had to do.  They refreshed themselves.  Even when the harassment continued, they refreshed themselves.  Even when they missed their families and homes, they refreshed themselves.  Even when the future looked uncertain, they refreshed themselves.

I have seen enough patients in the hospital to know a nurse’s job is not easy.  The pattern is a pretty consistent one.  After surgery, the patient is so overwhelmed with pain that the simplest of tasks becomes unwanted.  Even if their life depended upon it.  The nurse has to check on the patient to make sure they are eating their ice chips.  The nurse has to get the patient up and moving.  The nurse has to ensure the patient takes their meds.   But there is one task that seems to be the one every patient and nurse struggles with.  This device actually looks like an apparatus one might use to inhale illegal substances.  It is usually a shade of blue.  On the bottom is attached a serrated tube about an inch in diameter.  This tube is six to eight inches long with a mouthpiece at the end.  The tube is attached to a hard plastic cylindrical piece that stands about eight to twelve inches tall.  Inside is a ping-pong ball.  There are numbers and a scale on the outside.  The patient has to blow into the tube to make the ball rise to a certain height.  They have to do this on a regular basis.  Of all the tasks a patient must do for recovery, this has to be one of the easiest.  But it is always the one most neglected.  This task is necessary for life.  It keeps the patient from developing pneumonia.  Forcing air out and forcing deep breaths in removes built-up humidity in the lungs caused by shallow breathing and laying on one’s back.  The patient must refresh themselves.  Otherwise, they could die.

There are times when we are so discouraged, we don’t feel like taking care of ourselves.  There are trials so deep that surviving isn’t even on the list.  It is at those times when we need to make a willful choice to refresh the spirit, body, and soul.  We may not feel like going to church.  We may not feel like reading our bibles.  We may not feel like praying.  We might not feel like taking time off.  We may not feel like watching something humorous.  We may not feel like visiting.  We may not feel like making a phone call.  We may not feel like caring for ourselves.  But we must!  There are times when the trouble is so heavy and it does not seem like it will abate that we neglect to care for ourselves.  It is in those times when we have to take the time to nurse the soul.  We have to set a time to come apart lest we come apart.  It requires we tune out the trouble at hand and refocus on that which will make it stronger.  God can bring us to the well of refreshing, but He cannot make us drink.  We must choose to minister to our souls no matter what is going on around us.  Otherwise, the soul will perish in a state of despair.