WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU’RE TIRED OF DOING GOOD
There are seasons when following God is exciting. You can see what He is doing, prayers are being answered, doors are opening, and you feel energized about what is ahead. Then there are other seasons when you keep praying, but nothing seems to change. You keep serving, but nobody seems to notice. You keep trying to do the right thing, but doing the right thing doesn’t seem to be producing the results you expected. You keep showing up for your marriage, your children, your church, your work, or someone you love, and somewhere along the way you realize: I’m tired.
The Bible doesn’t pretend those seasons don’t exist. In fact, Galatians 6:9 speaks directly to them: “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
Notice that Paul doesn’t say, “Don’t get tired.” There is a difference between being tired and becoming weary. Tired is what happens to your body; weariness reaches your heart. Tired says, “I need some rest.” Weariness says, “I don’t know if this is worth it anymore.” Tired people need to recover. Weary people are tempted to quit.
So what do faithful people do when they get tired?
#1: REMEMBER WHAT GOD HAS DONE
One of the dangers of constantly focusing on what comes next is forgetting how far God has already brought us. When Israel forgot what God had done, God repeatedly called His people to remember. Psalm 77:11 says, “I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.”
Sometimes when you cannot see what God is doing in front of you, you need to look behind you. Remember the prayers He answered, the doors He opened, the people He sent into your life, and the times you didn’t know how something was going to work out, but somehow God made a way. Remember the seasons you thought would break you, yet God carried you through them.
But there is an important distinction: remember the past, but don’t live in the past. You cannot move forward while constantly staring into the rearview mirror. Look backward long enough to say, “God has been faithful.” Then look forward and say, “And the God who was faithful then will be faithful now.”
#2: DON’T CONFUSE WEARINESS WITH FAILURE
Why would Paul need to tell Christians not to grow weary of doing good? Because apparently you can be doing something good and still get tired doing it. That matters because sometimes we assume that if God is in something, it should always be exciting. If God called us to it, we should always feel energized
by it. If God is blessing it, it should always be easy.
That simply isn’t biblical. Moses got tired. Elijah got tired. Jeremiah got tired. Paul got tired. Jesus Himself experienced physical exhaustion. Faithfulness can be exhausting.
Marriage can be exhausting. Parenting can be exhausting. Caring for an aging parent can be exhausting. Serving others, doing ministry, or continuing to love someone through a difficult season can be exhausting. Sometimes the things that matter most require us to keep showing up long after the excitement wears off. Anyone can get excited about something new; faithfulness is continuing when it isn’t new anymore.
So don’t automatically interpret your exhaustion as evidence that you are doing something wrong. Sometimes you’re tired because you’ve been carrying something that matters.
#3: DON’T STOP BEFORE THE HARVEST
Galatians 6:9 contains more than a command. It also contains a promise: “For in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Paul uses agricultural language—planting, waiting, and harvesting.
No farmer plants seed on Monday and walks outside Tuesday morning angry because there isn’t a harvest. The farmer understands something we often forget: there is a season between sowing and reaping. That season is called waiting. You plant, water, and cultivate when you cannot see anything happening, yet underneath the soil, something is taking place.
The same can be true spiritually. How many times have we prayed about something and assumed God wasn’t working simply because we couldn’t see anything yet? How many seeds have you planted in your children that haven’t broken through the surface? How many conversations have you had with someone who doesn’t know Christ that seemed to go nowhere? How many prayers have you prayed that appear unanswered, or acts of obedience have you offered to God without seeing an obvious result?
We don’t always know what God is doing beneath the surface. That is the nature of sowing. God often does some of His deepest work during seasons when we see the least evidence of it. We want God to change our circumstances, but sometimes God is using our circumstances to change us.
Don’t stop simply because you cannot see the harvest yet.
#4: RECOMMIT BEFORE YOU QUIT
There are moments in Scripture when God’s people stop and renew their commitment to Him. Joshua challenged Israel, “Choose this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). There are moments when we need to remember, and there are moments when we need to choose again—not because our original
commitment wasn’t real, but because commitments need to be renewed.
Marriage vows are made once, but they are lived every day. The same is true of following Jesus. Maybe you have pulled back spiritually. Maybe you are still attending church, but somewhere along the way you stopped engaging. Maybe disappointment made you cautious, exhaustion made you passive, or you didn’t intentionally quit—you just slowly stopped.
Don’t settle into spiritual autopilot. Pray again. Serve again. Give again. Love again. Open your Bible again. Share your faith again. Trust God again. Forgive again. Believe again.
Sometimes the answer to weariness isn’t abandoning what God has called you to do. It is returning to Him and asking for fresh strength to do it.
#5: KEEP YOUR EYES ON JESUS
Hebrews 12:1–2 tells us to “run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.” A runner doesn’t finish an endurance race by constantly staring at how tired he feels. He keeps his eyes toward the finish.
Christian, look to Jesus. When you’re tired, disappointed, or prayers seem unanswered, look to Jesus. When doors open, look to Jesus. When doors close, look to Jesus. When life makes sense—and when absolutely nothing seems to make sense—look to Jesus.
Circumstances change. People change. Opportunities change. Seasons change. Jesus does not. Hebrews 13:8 reminds us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
DON’T STOP NOW
Maybe you are reading this at exactly the kind of moment Paul was describing. You are doing good, but you are tired. You have been faithful, but you haven’t seen the results you hoped for. You have been planting, but you haven’t seen the harvest.
Rest if you need to rest. Ask for help if you need help. Let other believers carry the load with you when it becomes too heavy. But don’t confuse needing rest with needing to quit.
Remember what God has done. Don’t confuse weariness with failure. Don’t stop before the harvest. Recommit yourself to what God has called you to do. And above everything else, keep your eyes on Jesus.
“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
You may be tired. But God is still faithful. Don’t stop now.
Bible References:Galatians 6:9–10 (ESV); Psalm 77:11 (ESV); Hebrews 6:10 (ESV); Joshua 24:15 (ESV); Hebrews 12:1–2 (ESV)
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