I'm not sure what burnout is, but whatever it is, Baruch has it. Burnout seems to be a description we use when we say we are very tired or frustrated. Often it is about our job or the people we work with or all the classwork we are taking. The word burnout sounds more final than it turns out to be. That is the part I don't track with since so many folks keep going when they say they are burned out. I've seen burned out wrecks of aircraft and there is no fire left in the machine to keep it in service, It's done, not going anywhere.

I think flameout is a better word for most of us. When an aircraft is at some altitude and has an engine flameout or quit, there is a good chance that it can be restarted. At least one has to try. If not, then an emergency landing can be attempted. At any rate, the aircraft can be kept in service since it doesn't crash and burn. It will go into the maintenance hanger for a period of rest and repair and then return to the flight line for a new period of service.

As you read the line in verse 3, you can see that Baruch is somewhere between flameout and burnout. He says he is worn out and groaning and finds no rest. The dude is tired, that's for sure. He's been working for and in support of Jeremiah for years and it is wearing on him. What has been going on?

• Stress
• Uncertainty
• Questions About the Future
• Survival and Basic Existence
• What Will I Do or Job Questions
• Living Daily With Fear, Low Level Fears as Well as Flat Out Terror
• Leaders and One Time Friends Want to Take Your Life
• People Refuse To trust You

All of these experiences take place in our lives as well. Not as severe perhaps as Baruch and Jeremiah I hope. No one is standing outside my home with battering rams nor catapults in order to ram or break it down. No one has threatened to place me in prison or take my life. I don't live with those severe realities. But I do live with some form of them, as well do you.

Question is, what do I do about it?

If God's short speech to Baruch can offer us any guidance the answer to the above question is fairly simple. Trust that God has a plan for you and will continue to use you. Rest and recover. Pray and prepare for the next chapter. Do not quit or assume you are done. Treat your life like a book and you are opening a new chapter, perhaps a new section of the book.

Life itself may take new turns, it may appear to be aimless for a while, but as long as you are friends with God, He is thinking about His next assignment for you. Fret not Baruch, God is thinking about you. He is thinking about you and me as well. Like Elijah when he seemed to be worn out and ready to die, God provided him rest and shelter and food. Put the book down, stop reading or writing your future for a while, let God serve you and take a vacation or stay-cation. But stop, listen, love and be faithful. Fret not, it will not restart your engine. Only God and faithfulness will keep you flying.

Jeremiah 45

A Message to Baruch

 ¹ This is what Jeremiah the prophet told Baruch son of Neriah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, after Baruch had written on a scroll the words Jeremiah was then dictating: ² "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch: ³ You said, 'Woe to me! The LORD has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.' "

 ⁴ The LORD said, "Say this to him: 'This is what the LORD says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the land. ⁵ Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the LORD, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.' "