Where can we find the energy to keep putting one foot in front of another?
Mar 13, 2011
The Base for Grace - part thirty-three in a study of the book of Hebrews
By Mike Gaudet
Short-term obedience is tiring.
Long-term obedience is exhausting.
Where can we find the energy to keep putting one foot in front of another?
“By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.” Hebrews 11:24-27
Had he stayed in Egypt, Moses would have been on “easy street.” As “the son of Pharaoh’s daughter” he had it made. Money. Sex. Power. He could have had it all. Sure, there was sin involved, but he could “enjoy the pleasures of sin” . . . least “for a short time.”
Moses exited this road. He “chose to be mistreated along with the people of God.” He chose to face “the king’s anger” and “regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt.”
How did he do it? Here’s a better question: How did he keep doing it? We all know how difficult it is to stay on a path that leads away from pleasure and toward pain. How could Moses keep from thinking about what he left behind and making a u-turn?
Moses “persevered because he saw him who is invisible.”
Conscious contact with God kept Moses on track. We often think of contact with God as the reward for making the right choices. In Moses’ case, contact with God was the reason for making the right choices.
When we think about someone like Moses, we assume that his commitment to God resulted in his connection with God. This is backwards. His connection with God resulted in His deep commitment to God. Because he spent time with God . . . because “he saw him who is invisible”, he was able to maintain “a long obedience in the same direction.”
Even though we will not be able to see the supernatural phenomena that Moses did, we can still experience conscious contact with God. We can talk to God through prayer. We can listen to Him through reading, studying and discussing His Word. God still talks to us. He still listens to us.
It’s important to remember though, that God connects with us for our benefit, not His own. God isn’t lonely. He doesn’t need for us to talk to Him. Nor does He need for us to listen to Him.
Connecting with God doesn’t benefit God; it benefits us.
“The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:28-31
God has an inexhaustible supply of energy. He never grows tired, but He understands that we do.
When children become tired, they get cranky and irritable. They don’t realize that they’re struggling because they’re weary. We “grown-ups” make the same mistake. When we become negative, critical and resentful, we often fail to realize that it is because we’re weary.
God invites us to come to Him when the grade is steep and the going is rough.
God “gives strength to the weary.”