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Battle fatigue (also known as combat fatigue) has been around since the earliest times men faced each other in battle. It wasn’t recognized for the significant issue it is and how it can affect someone in battle as well as those fighting with them but rather an attempt to avoid combat. Now it is officially identified as a psychiatric disorder that can occur in those who have experienced the mental and emotional strain of war. It’s a natural reaction to the physical and mental wear and tear of extended battle operations.

Symptoms can include strong emotions like fear, worry or anger, trouble sleeping, nightmares, racing heart, sweating, trembling, and nausea. Flashbacks are possible along with hypervigilance.

As with any other malady there is a continuum of severity and the key thing is the wearing down or fatigue that makes it feel impossible to go on in the fight.

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Are there other contexts where battle fatigue shows up beyond our military service units?

It seems to me there are. 

If you watch someone fighting a debilitating illness, you see more than the physical impact. You also see the mental, emotional, and spiritual fatigue as the battle chips away and can cause them to want to give up the battle to go on. Even with caregivers with them it is a solitary battle. If you watch someone battling anxiety or depression over a period of time, the toll of the battle becomes clearer.

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We are finite and our bodies, minds, hearts, and spirits have limits of what they can endure. Dealing with them can cause those in such battles to feel alone and many times feel no one can understand what they are enduring since it is all happening inside where it is unseen by those around them. Feelings can distort so much and often result in those in the battle not sharing the extent of their exhaustion and the nudge to give up.

How easily we forget that we live in two worlds. One is physical and tangible while the other is spiritual and unseen yet setting up chaos of all kinds in both worlds on a regular basis. Life events of all kinds can trigger these unseen battles.

The unseen battle is an attempt by the enemy of our souls to cause us to lose sight of God, his faithfulness, his goodness and provision for the assault we are in the midst of. The wearing away often occurs by means of one thing after another coming at us with little to no time to recuperate and regain our footing. Our hearts, minds, and spirits are weary of reaching up to God and out to others. 

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In a recent trek through Exodus I was struck by the situation Moses faced in Exodus 17:8-13.  Israel is in the wilderness and there was a battle with the Amalekites. Joshua was ordered to lead the fight against them while Moses (along with Aaron and Hur) went to the top of a hill overlooking the battle. Moses raised his hands and the battle was going well for Israel but the battle raged on and his hands grew tired and when he dropped them the enemies of Israel began winning. It would appear there was battle fatigue happening from the extended combat. 

Fortunately those around him were stirred by what they saw. They got a stone for him to sit on and Aaron and Hur held up his hands on each side so that his hands could remain steady until  the sun set. The result? Joshua led Israel to defeat the Amalek army in battle. Aaron and Hur understood Moses had a commission from God and did not take his staff or position in the battle but instead assisted Moses by holding up his arms.

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The story points us to a model of how we can remain steady and stalwart in our own battles so that battle fatigue does not upend and defeat us. No matter how mature and strong we may be, we need others around us to discern the wearing down we experience and come along side us so we do not become weary to the point of defeat in the battle.

Paul’s letter to the Galatians speaks to the importance of others standing with us during life’s battles. Sometimes we are the one embattled and other times we are the one called to come along side.

“Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2 (NLT)

Being in Christ does not mean we won’t have burdens to carry in this earthly life. We will. One of those burdens is the weightiness of our temptation to give into sin, and the heaviness of trying to get out of it. Paul wanted us to share that burden and not battle sin and temptation on our own.

In Paul’s counsel we can overcome battle fatigue.

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