Does God Ever Get Tired?

My daughter has always loved to sing. When she was two, she would sing and hum to herself in the car. She still does, until she realizes we're listening to her. She especially liked singing in church. The church we attended at the time had an upbeat contemporary worship style with a nice mix of classic hymns. One day, we were singing "Our King is Exalted" and I realized I could hear my daughter's sweet voice ringing out amid the music and the crowd. As I bent closer to listen, I has to suppress a belly laugh. She was right on key and right on time. The only difference in what she was singing was a subtle change in the lyrics; to her young ears, "Our King is Exalted" had become "Our King is Exhausted."

My wife and I had a good laugh about it on the way home, but as I look back, I am inclined to wonder: Does God ever get tired? Does He ever need a vacation? If the question is simply whether God ever gets physically tired, the answer is easy:

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom. (Isaiah 40:28)

If the question instead is "Is there a limit to God's mercy? Can I exhaust God's patience?" the unfortunate answer for some of us, is "yes." Now let me explain: The Bible clearly teaches that no amount of right living can earn us God's favor, apart from Christ. Were right living required, or even able to save us, there would be no such thing as grace, nor any need for it:

So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace (Romans 11:5-6)

The Bible also teaches that there is no sin that cannot be forgiven the believer in Christ:

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 7-9)

This is great news for the believer in Christ! Since grace is delivered to us on the basis of what Christ did, rather than what we do (or don't do), it is as limitless as Christ is perfect.

The Bible does; however, teach that there is one sin that, if left unrepented, cannot and will not be forgiven. John refers to this in 1 John 5:16 as a sin "leading to death." Christ Himself referred to this sin in Mark 3:28-29: "I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin." Christ uttered these words in response to those who denied He was the Christ, preferring to accuse Him of working miracles by the power of the devil.

Friends, the simple fact is this: We can speculate all we want about those in far-flung places who have never heard the Gospel, but one thing is certain: if we do hear the good news that Christ has overcome death and has Himself died for our sins, and yet go to the grave choosing to reject the prompting of the Holy Spirit to receive Him as Lord, we are certain to experience God's judgment, rather than His grace. For our intents and purposes, we will have exhausted the inexhaustible.