Almost every preacher who has been charged with the responsibility to communicate the message of God’s Word can tell you this story. Message prep is hard. Just hard.
Figure this out.
In last week’s message, I closed by encouraging people to get personal in their relationship with God – to pray and read the Bible and expect God to be there personally. I said God might show up. That has happened to me in spades this week. I’m reading Deuteronomy every morning and it’s like God is speaking directly to me in 3D Imax with THX surround sound. It’s been so powerful. My prayer life has had the most joy it’s had in it in months over the last two weeks. Amazing.
Now I need to finish the message for this weekend, and I feel completely stuck. I have pages of notes, believe God is in it, am excited about the text, but I’m stuck. I’d rather mop floors or wander aimlessly through a semi-frozen creek in hip-waders than write. If a telemarketer called right now, I’d be grateful. Aaargh…. I just feel so inadequate, so burdened. And my spiritual life is good (i think).
People who don’t preach, maybe you might pray for those of us who do preach. Just so you know, there’s no crisis here (it’s probably not an "attack" nor is there some big counseling thing that needs to happen), and I’m not sure there’s a way "out" except through it. As a preacher, maybe we just have to live it. There’s just a burden associated with preaching that pretty much every preacher feels regularly. Biblical preachers felt it too. I can pretty much relate to everything Jeremiah said at one point or another in my preaching life.
Other preachers – holler back. You feel this? Let’s share some stories.
People who don’t preach (consider yourself blessed), you get stuck here sometimes? This experience ever pop up this way in your life?
