As I was driving yesterday and praying for a specific breakthrough that I have been praying for some time, the Lord spoke the word “jaded”. I roughly knew the connotations, but it remained on my heart until later that evening when I could look it up. As I did, a word of strengthening and encouragement for the church began to come together.
The word “jaded” according to Cambridge and Merriam Webster can mean “worn out”, “wearied”, “dulled by surfeit” (we’ll revisit that one in a minute), sated, “cynically or pretentiously callous”, “made dull”, “apathetic” or “cynical by experience or by having or seeing TOO MUCH of something”. This can describe many in the body right now. You’re just worn out and weary. You’ve seen too much of “not breakthrough” that you’ve gotten almost apathetic or cynical about it ever coming. We’re going to dive into each of these definitions in a moment.
To form jade in the natural, you need to be DEEP in the depths (subduction zone) of the earth. You need a HIGH PRESSURE and low temperate (cold) environment. Anyone feel like you’ve been in the depths? Left out in the cold? Withstanding high pressure in life for long times?
The Lord said, “I want this time of pressure to transform you into diamonds...not make you jaded.”
Diamonds are ALSO formed in deep, dark places with high pressure, BUT they are formed in an abundance of WARMTH. (I think of the fire of the Lord).
What difference could the temperature possibly make? The difference is in their toughness. Diamonds have a Mohl’s scale of 10! Which means they can be “tumbled” or scraped with abrasive materials for a long time without damage. Jade, on the other hand, has a Mohl’s rating of 6-7. Such a huge difference. Diamonds are so solid, in fact, that only diamonds can carve/cut/impress upon other diamonds. Jade, on the other hand, is soft enough to be carved, broken down, scratched, or fractured by many things.
In a jaded state, we open ourselves to letting many things “carve” or shape our expectations and thoughts. We get impressions from what we see around us rather than God’s words about what’s happening (Truth). This can make our hearts and our hope grow cold, making a time that could be transforming us into strong diamonds of faith, make us jaded instead. We control the “temperature”! We set the thermostat of our conditions based on what we focus on. If we let the Lord fan us into flame IN THE MIDST of the trouble, we will find NEW STRENGTH that is both precious, beautiful, and lasting.
Are you getting jaded? If so, don’t lose hope! Let the word stir up a fire in you again and turn your jadedness into diamonds. Using the Word of God as a weapon against weariness, let’s go through each part of the definition of “jaded” and combat it with what God says...
**(1)**Worn out and wearied- If you’re worn out and weary, first of all don’t give up!! Don’t forfeit your harvest!
“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9
Also, don’t shame yourself for being weary! It says even youth will grow weary BUT that we will finish not by our own strength IF we wait on the Lord!
“Even youths shall faith and be weary, and young me shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:30
The remedy for weariness is a WORD FROM THE LORD! Seek Him for a fresh word...the hope of the good news and plans that He has for you!
“The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary.” Isaiah 50:4a
“My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.” Psalm 119:28
“Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.” Proverbs 25:25
It’s OK and even important to REST. Don’t quit (there’s a difference between quitting and resting), but do rest.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28
“For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish. At this, I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.” Jeremiah 31:25-26
Finally, if you’re weary remember the testimony of Jesus. What we are walking through is never as much as He bore for us, and that can encourage us because He overcame!
“Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” Hebrews 12:3
**(2)**Dulled by surfeit- Surfeit means “disgust” or “feed or supply to excess”. Have you ever gotten to the point at a holiday meal of “uncomfortably full”? I think of this terrible feeling- so full you don’t want to move. This is a contrast to the good kind of “fullness” when we get more than we ask or imagine from the Lord. This is a binge on worldly worries, disappointments, or hope deferred.
When we feast on God’s words the result is JOY. “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts. “ Jeremiah 15:16.
When we feed on the enemy’s words that crush our spirits and defer our hopes, the result is a sick heart. “The human spirit can endure in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?” Proverbs 18:14, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22
**(3)**Pretentiously callous- Hardened hearts- that term in the Bible so well known because of Exodus- actually comes from the word for callous. Callouses are toughness that happens from REPETITIVE motion (that rubs raw). It’s not a one-time thing. It sneaks in. And just like lifting heavy loads makes callouses on the hands, when we REPEATEDLY carry what we were never meant to carry, our hearts become callous as well. And the results are disastrous!
I was struck at these verses below about callouses hearts...all of them say that when our hearts become callous, it gets harder to hear the Lord, we stop SEEING (shut eyes indicate that the promises are STILL THERE but we have willfully stopped looked at this), and we have shut out the understanding that CURES us. Wow.
“For this people’s heart has grown callous;their ears are hard of hearing,and they have shut their eyes;otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears,understand with their hearts and turn back—and I would cure them.” Matthew 13:15
“He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, to keep them from seeing with their eyes and understanding with their heart and being converted; otherwise, I [their God] would heal them.” John 12:40
“For the hearts of these people have grown callous,their ears are hard of hearing,and they have shut their eyes;otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears,understand with their heart,and be converted,and I would heal them.” Acts 27:28
Callous hearts also open the door to letting standards slide and blurring our discernment. The expression “give an inch, and they’ll take a mile” is pertinent in that areas you give small concessions in can lead to bigger concessions. Hold the line, keep your faith on, and don’t give in even a little bit.
“They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more.” Ephesians 4:19
**(4)**Apathetic or cynical by experience or by seeing too much of something. When God told Moses he would lead His people to freedom, don’t you wonder if by the 8th plague or so Moses wondered how much he’d have to see of the same “no” answer. But God DID come through. We can’t quit on the way to our Exodus. We can’t let the adverse circumstances we see around us change what we believe about what God is doing or has spoken. Use your eyes to feast on His words and to look for signs of hope and joy.
“It’s so easy to see the But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” Matthew 6:23
“For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace” Romans 8:6
It’s probably no accident that from start to finish- from the breastplate of Aaron to the Heavenly city in Revelation- that the jewels the Lord builds with are HARD stones (7s or higher on the Mohl’s). Hear God’s call to let the pressure HARDEN your resolve- not your heart. Let it make you a diamond and resist becoming “jaded”.
Prayer of activation: Lord, open my eyes to the areas in which I’ve become jaded. Remind me right now of those places. As you bring them to mind, I ask for forgiveness for any lies I have believed. I ask for refreshment and revival in these places. I ask for a reminder of the hope you have spoken and the resolve to continue in it even before I see the breakthrough. Thank you Lord for building new strength in me that will allow me to run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint, and to reach new heights with you. In the name of you precious son, Jesus, we ask all of this. Amen.
Comments