A Remedy for the Mundane
What She Said - Part 6
Leigh Ann Betters, Guest Writer
Today’s Treasure
So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.
Hebrews 12:12-13
Yesterday, Keri mentioned that she was a fan of new beginnings. I am, too…sometimes. She and I both enjoy the ‘clean slate’ feeling January brings, and we both experience a little rush of adrenaline from buying a cute new planner each year.
And while new beginnings are fresh and exciting, they also create change that can be uncomfortable – even painful. I often resist changes I don’t like or don’t feel ready for.
Over the past two years, those changes have come in various forms. Two of my children married and left home. My husband lost his job. My mother passed away. And then Covid-19 arrived. Early in the pandemic, I struggled, spending too much time feeling frustrated and irritated at my circumstances. I resented the fact that I had to teach via Zoom, that I couldn’t grab coffee with a friend, that we had to cancel our much-anticipated trip to the Grand Canyon. Like many others, I longed for life to ‘get back to normal.’
Then, our pastor preached a sermon series -- titled “A New Level of Good” -- that radically changed my perspective. Rather than longing to return to the comfort and security of the familiar, we can intentionally choose to embrace our current situation, knowing that God is at work. He is always at work, doing something new, even when we can’t see it.
God himself reminds us of this in Isaiah 43. Earlier in the chapter, He speaks directly to His people, reminding them of all He has done for them before – how he rescued them from Egypt and defeated their enemies – and describing how He will defeat their current enemy, Babylon.
“But forget all that,” He says in verse 18 (NLT). “It is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”
Most of the Israelites did NOT see what God was doing, and sadly, many completely missed it when this promise was eventually fulfilled.
But aren’t we often guilty of the same thing – missing God’s promise that He is doing a new thing? That ‘new thing’ is Jesus. In the struggles, pain, and sometimes just the mundaneness of life, we lose sight of the ‘new thing’ God is doing in us and in those around us.
Today’s Treasure helps us to refocus:
So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.
Hebrews 12:12
As I read this verse, I picture myself hanging from the monkey bars, arms aching, hands slipping, or running towards the finish line as my knees begin to give way.
It sounds simple. Get a grip! Stay the course! But I’m too weak to conjure up my own strength, so my hands slip, my knees buckle. I complain. I snap at my husband. I neglect the Word.
The writer of Hebrews seems to leave us hanging on those monkey bars alone until we can figure out how to reposition our hands.
But if we dig a little deeper, we find the answer. Hebrews 12:12 is a quote from Isaiah 35:3. In that passage, Isaiah reveals the source of our strength:
With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees. Say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.”
Isaiah 35:3-4
LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT
Our God is coming! Jesus is coming! His Spirit is HERE.
And He delights in doing “new things.”
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God…
Psalm 40:3
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
I Corinthians 5:17
And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
Revelation 21:5
When we focus our hearts on Jesus, He adjusts our grip. He bolsters our buckling knees. And with that renewed strength, we can encourage others by pointing them to Jesus, so that they will receive His strength as well.
Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.
Hebrews 12:13
Are there other women in your life who could benefit from a daily dose of encouragement? Forward this email so they can click on this link to Subscribe to Daily Treasure to be better equipped to walk by faith on the pathway God has marked out for them.
Sharon W. Betters is author of Treasures of Encouragement, Treasures in Darkness, co-author of Treasures of Faith. and co-author with Susan Hunt of Aging with Grace, Flourishing in an Anti-Aging Culture. She is Director of Resource Development and co-founder of MARKINC.org, a non-profit organization that offers help and hope to hurting people. Sharon enjoys quality time with her husband, children, fourteen grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
Contact Sharon with comments or questions at dailytreasure@markinc.org.