Listening to the Holy Spirit:
Great intention will not lift the long load. For intention starts strongly, but the steadiness of temptation will wear thin its strength, the erosion of sin, the bones. So too with the intent of the fallen heart and flesh of man, but those who walk in redemption, calling on the strength of He who redeems, these have their strength renewed. He who sprints on his own will faulter when his strength is spent, but he who counts not his power worthy of the task, it is he who turns to his Provider for what he does not possess. Again it occurs with age, for he who has spent his youth, cannot lift as a youth, and must share the burden with another who brings what he now lacks. The sprint is of man, but the race of man is not the sprint. Victory is in the abiding with He who lifts what you cannot, and gives endurance to one weary, and I Am with you always. Call that you may finish well the race set before you. Long and steady you must run, carrying that which you cannot long lift.
Heb 12:1b-2a (ESV) – …and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…
Matt 11:28 (ESV) – Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Isaiah 41:10 (ESV) – be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 40:31 (ESV) – but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
John 16:33 (ESV) – I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Taking It to Work:
Some of you out there are carrying a very heavy load. We wonder sometimes how this could be part of God’s plan, but it is. Jesus said to us clearly that in this world we could expect trouble, and the more ungodly the world gets, I think we can expect that there is even going to be more to bear. Our devotional today reminds us that we cannot, and should not even try, to bear it alone. We have a race to run that God has laid out before the beginning of time. Each of us different, but each, if we are trying to live a holy life, will come with its share of heavy lifting and long-distance running. The burdens we carry may stem from work, financial issues, family dynamics or personal struggles with sin, and sometimes can last for years.
The good news? We do not, and are not expected, to bear it alone. The struggles we have are not just happenstance, they are there that we would turn to God in a way we would not have if those struggles were not there. Even the struggles at work, that may seem unrelated to God and distant to our walk with Him, are struggles that, if we connect the dots, are struggles that let us see our limitations, our own shortage of control and strength, and hopefully cause us to turn to our Lord, for a closer walk with Him.
In the end, when our long race is done, the overarching victory will be, not the individual issues we had to work through, but the fact that we worked through them with Him. Drawing near, drawing strength, drawing endurance we would not have had otherwise. Lean on Him as you lift your load. He will not grow weary, and you will not faint, as His Word works in you, today.
