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If I could summarize this verse in three words I would use these words, DO YOUR BEST! The writer to the Hebrews reminds them and us of the many people that have gone before us that have been victorious in their faith. These bastions of the faith were by no means perfect. They were murderers, they were adulterers, they were thieves, they were liars, they were guilty of every imaginable sin possible. They are honored not because they are perfect, but because they knew where to go for forgiveness and for strength to carry-on in spite of their faults. We have Jesus and the Holy Spirit to help cleanse us and help us move forward. The word picture the writer uses is out of the ancient Greek games in which athletes would strip and be completely naked when they ran races in order that nothing will hold them back that is what we are to do with God. Get rid of everything so that we can be pure before Jesus. God never promised us that we will win every race we run. But he will help us to get back up and try again when we falter! Run hard! Run with endurance! Trust him for the results. Just do your best with his help and his Spirit within you.
“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. Psalms 119:105
With today’s technology, we can put light into the darkest places and make them seem almost like daylight. Yet when David penned these words it’s important to remember that the light that they had was simply a torch or a lamp. It didn’t show everything in the area, it only showed a few feet in front, a few feet in back and a few feet side to side. The word of God, the Bible, offers us insight into the path that we lead. Some of us are walking through shadows of physical darkness because the doctors report wasn’t good. Some of us are walking in darkness today because of fear of the pandemic, or because of the unknowns regarding our government. Some of us are walking through relational darkness. The loneliness and disappointment is overwhelming. Perhaps the worst darkness of all is the darkness we walk through when God seems distant. God never promises to show us everything that hides in the darkness, but he does promise us light for today’s path. This verse reminds us that we can trust God for the here and now and leave the past and the future up to him. With Jesus by our side, we need not fear the darkness.
“O Lord, I will honor and praise your name, for you are my God. You do such wonderful things! You planned them long ago, and now you have accomplished them.” Isaiah 25:1
My family accuses me of being beige! My clothes are beige! My personality is beige! Even my language tends to be a little beige at times! I tried to tell them, I’m not beige I’m just consistent! I just move steadily along. But in reality, I’m not sure Christian should ever be beige when it comes to the things of God. Isaiah says I will praise you God God. His praises based on the wonderful things that God has done for him. His praises based on the fact that God does exactly what he says he’ll do he’s done it that way before he’s doing it in Isaiah‘s lifetime and he’ll do it in the future. That’s the God we serve. The limitations it says that his love and mercy for us is new every morning. The Psalmist writes and says he’s our rock our refuge. Isaiah says he’s a wonderful God. How can you be beige when a wonderful God like that loves you so much and has promised to take care of you. God keeps his promises!
“David replied, “I fasted and wept while the child was alive, for I said, ‘Perhaps the Lord will be gracious to me and let the child live.’” 2 Samuel 12:22
Although he was called a man after God’s own heart, David was far from the stellar example of spiritual or political leadership that any of us would aspire to. His statements above, come as a result of a scandal he caused that would rival any political or religious scandal today. David had an affair with a married woman who got pregnant. He murdered her husband to try to cover up his actions. When confronted by a prophet of God, David was informed that the baby would get sick eventually die. God keeps his word. When the baby became sick David went into a state of mourning. He fasted. He prayed. He wept. He begged God for mercy, grace and forgiveness in hopes that the baby would survive. But it didn’t happen. The baby died.
Sometimes we pray and God doesn’t answer as we’d like. We pray. We plead. We bargain. We may even implement a prayer team on our behalf, but nothing helps. Here David teaches us a valuable lesson. Even in those times God disappoints us, we need to move on trusting his wisdom and knowing that as a sovereign God his way is best.
As C. S. Lewis said, “Life with God is not immunity from difficulties but peace within difficulties.” God may not answer the way we like, but he will always answer in a way that is best for us if we trust him.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 