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12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. ~ Hebrews 12:12-13
We return to our study of Hebrews 12 wherein the writer of Hebrews has established the fact that the believer in Christ is involved in a race. This is not a race of competition, it is a race to attain the goal of knowing Christ most intimately. One essential in this race is trials which are used of God to deepen us in our hearts ability to see and hear Him. Another essential is hearing the spoken word of Christ on a daily basis. This is not an audible word. This is His word that resounds in our souls as we seek Him in everyday life and through His written word.
As with any race, there are times when we may "grow weary and lose heart." In fact, we are often tempted to stop the pursuit for a while. But, as we considered in the previous passage, we have been given a revolutionary truth intended to aid us in this process. This revolutionary truth is the God of the Bible has become our Father through the death of the Lord Jesus. As children of God, the Father disciplines or trains us in and through our struggles. And, His motive behind all of His training is always love.
In v.12 of today's passage we read, "Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees."
Here, the writer of Hebrews begins to summarize the practical results of our trials: They are the means to the end of knowing God more deeply. Our trials are intended to strengthen our faith in the God of the Bible ,so that, we are able to realize the outworking of the New Covenant the Lord Jesus ratified with His blood on the cross of Calvary.
The analogy of "strengthening our feeble arms and weak knees" delivers the message of "stop being so anxious and worried."
God's training technics are not given to us to slow us down; they are designed to enable us to maximize our ability to pursue Him most effectively. The writer of this book uses an athletic metaphor encouraging us to get our second wind. And, our ability to catch our second wind depends primarily upon our ability to be dependent on God for our identity and purpose in this life.
Now, the first thing that happens to a good runner, when he gets tired, is he drops his arms. In order to be the best runner, it is the best practice to utilize rhythm throughout the body. The motion of the arms is very strategic to the movement of the runner's body. And the rhythm of the whole body has to be in congruity if the runner is to be successful. Metaphorically, when our pursuit of God wanes, our rhythm is broken and we lose our stride which is essential for us to pursue God with all of our souls.
The second thing that always happens to a runner, when he gets tired, is his knees begin to wobble and pretty soon he is fighting against the growing numbness in his legs. And, if he begins to concentrate on the numbness in his legs, he’s finished. There’s only one thing that a runner can do at that point, and that is to look intently at the goal and tell himself, "I am going to make it to the goal." It’s the only thing he can do.
Like so many illustrations used in the book of Hebrews, this illustration comes from the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah. In Isaiah 35, the children of Israel were given very similar words as these given in today's passage. As it was for the struggling Jews in Isaiah's day, it is in our pursuit of the Lord that is the issue. The real issue isn't our fatigue, although it is very real. The real issue is what gives us the unction to continue the race. There may come times in our lives when our arms begin to droop, and our knees begin to wobble, and we begin to think we can't continue. It is at this point that we must look to the Lord Jesus. Fixing our eyes on the One who gave birth to our faith is the very One who will mature it, if we let Him.
In v.13 of today's passage we read, "Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed."
It is always disastrous when a runner changes running lanes. To make level paths for your feet means we must be diligent to stay in our lane and not be distracted by all of those things that would distract us from pursuing the Lord. If we fail to run the race in our own lane, straight ahead at full speed, we will not be successful in our pursuit of the Lord.
The word "paths" here means the track left by wheels. The point is that we are not only running for our own benefit, we are leaving a track for others who might follow in our steps. Every day we leave a pattern for others to follow. And, for the maturing believer in Christ, the pattern is determined pursuit of God. And, when we pursue Him, we will find Him, and He will define us with His truth and culture.
The word "lame" in v.13 is a reference to the weaker Christian. Whenever we change lanes we could have a negative impact on those who are weaker than we. The weaker Christian has enough trouble just getting down the track. The analogy is this: If we start going from side to side, we are going to knock over the weaker brother.
The Greek word used here translated "disabled" means to be put out of joint. The weaker brother is already limping. The writer of Hebrews is saying, "don’t permanently dislocate the weaker brother." As believers in Christ, we should run in such a way that the weak brother may be encouraged to pursue Christ for himself. If we are distracted from the Lord, if we start getting mad at God, if we start getting ticked off because we've got some troubles, and we start losing our testimony, somebody who’s watching will be impacted.
The goal of our sanctification is healing, not only for us but also for others. The point of our sanctification is that we are so convinced that we need the Lord that we pursue Him with all we have. All too often we think our sanctification is about a better us. Any time we are emphasizing self, we are out of wack.
Dennis Kinlaw once wrote, "I have come to believe that the mark of the truly sanctified heart is that it cares more about another’s salvation than it does about its own well-being. It is not the words you say or the deeds you do that really matter. It is whether deep down in your spirit you have taken the way of the Cross and come to the place where you care about what Jesus cares about and are willing to give up everything so people will be redeemed."
Let me close with another great quote from Dennis Kinlaw who once said, "Satan disguises submission to himself under the ruse of personal autonomy...the shift in commitment is never from Christ to evil; it is always from Christ to self. And instead of his will, self-interest now rules and what I want reigns. And that is the essence of sin."
Our biggest enemy is self, and, anytime we magnify self, we should be greatly alarmed. The goal of this pursuit that we are engaged in is the Lord Jesus. The Apostle Paul put it so well when he wrote in Philippians 3:12, "I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me." The goal is reaching out for the One who first reached out for us.
