DAD'S RAMBLINGS – HANG IN THERE
"For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin." (Hebrews 12:3-4)
Sometimes it seems that life is tough. Things to haywire, and we experience pain and frustration. Life is not always what we want it to be. We life in a fallen world, damaged by the effects of sin. Sometimes it is physical pain and disease that was caused by the fall in the Garden of Eden. Sometimes it is the ungodly world-system which seems to attack our faith.
The writer to the Hebrews gives encouragement for such times. First, he says to remember the agony and rejection – the hostility – that Jesus went through. It was far beyond what we endure. We may suffer from the effects of sin in our world, but if we are still breathing, we have not yet shed our blood for righteousness. One way to look at our suffering is to consider others who have gone through much worse things than we have. That does not take away the pain but it helps us keep perspective.
So he wrote in verses 12-13, "Therefore, strengthen the hands that hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed." This is a graphic picture of a person who has lost strength, whose knees are buckling under the burden, and who is wobbling down the path, barely able to navigate a straight line.
God does provide strength to the feeble and weary, and healing to those who have been wounded in the battle. We have the promise that "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31).
When the road seems too steep and too rough, we look unto Jesus, the author and finisher – the beginning and end – of our faith (vs. 2) and run the race that is set before us (vs. 1). He is the one who will get us through the hard times.
Love, Dad
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