The Limping Only He Heals

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. ~Hebrews 12:12-14

Processing this month has been hard. We find ourselves in the same space over and over again, looking at the same reflection of pain and suffering, knowing we are contributing both actively and passively.

And my heart despairs.

Anguished at the sin I see, looking inward to note the places the sin may reside, looking outward at the devastation and heartbreak, I wonder whether we are stuck in a pattern we cannot escape. Just like with my children who struggle repeatedly with an entrenched sin, whose talons have sunk so deeply into the heart, is my viewpoint so skewed that I cannot see the space the sin occupies?

My hands droop in discouragement, doubt, and despair. We have reached and worked, sought and grasped, yet it continues to occur, more and more egregious with every offense. Our knees are weak. They collapse in grief for our brothers and sisters, wounded for those rejected, fatigued from the repetitive sinful refrain of hatred, apathy, rejection and self promotion.

But He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:10-11)

His discipline is for my good - to know His heart more fully, to see His holy anger, to understand His wounding. His discipline is not just for the one who pulled the bandage off again acting in some overt, bigoted sense, but it is for us - the church - who continue to cover the wound with the bandage of words for the moment, a packing that forces the sinful sickness back within the church, hoping it heals itself.

But no sickness heals without a cleaning.

Being tired and discouraged from seeing the seepage again will never be an excuse. We must tend the wound. Discipline must be received for repentance to occur.

Discipline comes to those who are running the race. Make no mistake, the charge for change is to His people, not to the lost of the world. For without the forgiveness of sin, without the life changing power of Jesus within us, discipline does not come. Hebrews is clear that discipline declares legitimacy as His child. So with my heartbreak must be a submission to see all of this the way He does and to lay aside every weight and every sin that entangles my heart. Running with Jesus as my goal looks very different.

So I choose. I choose to surrender and seek His truth. I listen closely to the stories and words of my friends who have suffered, and I repent for my contribution. I lift my hands once more, I straighten my knees in purpose. I begin to reach out, and I walk once more, eyes fixed on Jesus. I carry what needs to be carried and come alongside to support what is wounded.

For lameness is not acceptable; no, healing must fully occur.

Stumbling and limping in fellowship with others should not be the end of healing for His children. But to put the limb straight requires a looking within, an understanding of the full complexities, the layers of torn, broken, stretched wounds we have not cared for before. Learning from listening, slowly examining, comprehensively diagnosing the extent of the wound will begin the healing. Like a medic on a battlefield, His love and grace work in hearts both to heal and to support.

We cannot sideline ourselves or deny this is the race. And while the world desperately longs for peace, true peace can only be found linked to a holy walk with God. Peace rooted in anything else is false and short lived. Without a striving to walk holy, no one will see the Lord. So, with my eyes fixed, locked, on the One who has set me free from sin, I commit to run with endurance. I am convinced of this truth:  He is faithful, and healing comes within His run. His holy healing within leads to a hunger and striving for peace with everyone around.

The time for God’s people is now - for we walk with Him, He heals our sins, and we testify of Christ to a world divided and torn.