Does the Bible Offer a Solution for Burnout?
Galatians 6:9 says to not grow weary doing good. How can I do that (and everything else) from a place of complete burnout? Does the bible address burnout?
If you want an example of burnout, one potential place to look for it is Elijah. After his victory over the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18, Elijah seems both depressed and burnt out. Do you know what God did? God gave him a season of rest.
It’s possible for us to be exhausted by overexertion. Remember, God gave us the principle of the Sabbath. Now, I don’t believe we’re under the principle of the Sabbath, legally speaking, but by design, God knows that we need a rest. By design, God gave Israel and humanity one day of rest every seven days. By design, God gave Israel feasts during the year when they would take off work, which were essentially vacations or holidays.
I think that rest is God’s fundamental solution for the cause of burnout. I know it can go deeper and be more complicated, but this is where it begins. Until you’re taking proper rest and doing so on a regular basis, I wouldn’t look for deeper concerns or solutions to burnout. If you’re in the regular practice of doing that and still experiencing burnout, then I think other things need to be examined. But that’s where it begins: taking God’s appointed and proper rest.