What causes an instrument to become unreliable? How valuable is a bow that can no longer shoot an arrow straight? A deceitful bow is one that has lost its resilience and accuracy. It can no longer place the arrows on a straight trajectory towards the defined target.

The Bible uses the faulty bow as a metaphor for those people who lose their edge, their accuracy and sharpness. Once they were useful to God but over a period of time have become unreliable and faulty. They are no longer trustworthy instruments in His hands. They lose direction, misfire and stray from the target.

"Like their fathers they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty (deceitful) bow." (Psalm 78:57 NIV).

"They turn, but not upward, They are like a deceitful bow..." (Hosea 7:16 NASB).

A bow can become unreliable when the string is never loosened. If the string is always tight, the bow looses its resilience. Without sufficient relaxation, the bow will no longer be able to spring back into shape when pulled.

This serves as a good reminder for those of us who want to be long-lasting and useful instruments for the firing of the Lord's arrows of ministry! We need to take time to unwind. Ministry has a way of taking a toll on you in terms of emotional, physical, mental and spiritual energy. Because we are surrounded by consistent need we are tempted to feel that we must not rest till the job is done. We fire away without realizing that we are missing the target and losing our resilience. Soon we are riding on empty and in danger of hurting others as well as ourselves.

God's instruments, like most instruments, need regular maintenance. It is good to have a healthy self-distrust in our reliability when approaching exhaustion. We must read the instrument panel on the dashboard and recognize when we need to fill the tank, change the oil and pump the tires! "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew (or 'exchange') their strength." (Isaiah 40:31). We exchange His for ours!

Lift your eyes to the hills and remember where your help comes from (Psalm 121:1). Consider the lilies or the tireless lapping of ocean waves. Draw near to God and you will regain needed perspective. Let His Word germinate and gestate within you. Take time to re-envision the target, relax the strings, and oil the bow. Recharge, regroup and recollect. Enjoy the activities of re-creation. Let God make you a new instrument in His hands.

Tune your inner ear to the voice of the Good Shepherd who leads you to the still waters and restores your soul. Learn to identify those activities, environments and relationships that help replenish your supply. Jesus knew how to come apart to commune with His Father so He would not come apart under the demands of daily ministry. Jesus advocated that we be careful to look at the instrument panel. He said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." (Mark 6:31 NIV).

May He be the source of our R & R this summer.

Relaxing the string that I may re-spring,

David MacAdam, Pastor/Teacher
New Life Community Church