I learnt something new in church last Sunday — ‘however heavy the load, power lifters NEVER focus on the weight before them’. Instead, they look away from it as they sum up strength to lift.
What is true for power lifters should be true for our lives but that’s not always the case. Unfortunately, the weights of life come in various sizes and shapes.
Don’t look at the weight
We are generally burdened on different levels with real life issues; sickness in our bodies, relationship strains, inability to keep up with financial commitments, emotional stress, job insecurity, mental health challenges, you name it.
Life may ‘burden’ us (sometimes more than we can bear) but we have a promise from Jesus that He will never leave or forsake us — Hebrews 13:5.
Unbelief is both Satan's goal and tool. If he can get you to distrust God and His precious promises, he's done his job. Don't let him get to you // Don't Look at the Weight Before You
Click To Tweet
If we doubt, we’re looking at the weight. If we ignore God’s promises, we are looking at the weight. If we listen to and believe the naysayers rather than the Holy Spirit, we are looking at the weight.
Don’t look at the weight before you; look to Jesus — Hebrews 12:2. However impossible the situation looks to you, be reminded that God sees it differently — Luke 1:37.
If God brings you to it, He can and will take you through it to victory.
You’re not alone
In a previous post, I wrote that God never promised us a pain-free life. Instead, He gave us the assurance that He’s with us in every situation we face.
Sometimes, God chooses to deliver us BEFORE we get to the fire. Other times, He chooses to walk THROUGH the fire with us like He did with the three Hebrew youth adults in Daniel 3:24-25.
Whichever be your case, be assured that He’s with you and you’re not alone.
No duo are more qualified in biblical context (apart from Jesus) to encourage us in our suffering than Job and Paul the Apostle.
Take Paul for example…
received 39 strokes five times, shipwrecked three times, adrift on the sea for 24 hours, in frequent dangers from the elements, robbers and his own people… experienced many sleepless nights, hunger, thirst, hardships and ministerial pressures… 2 Corinthians 11:24-28.
If anyone was ‘qualified’ (by human estimation) to relinquish his calling and give it all up having done all he could, Paul was. But he couldn’t. He wouldn’t. He didn’t.
While Paul knew his calling was divine, he was in no doubt about the associated risks — Acts 9:15-16. But most importantly, he had the assurance of Christ’s presence and sustaining grace — 2 Timothy 4:16-18, 2 Corinthians 12:9.
Like Paul, if you’re in Christ, you are not alone; the Lord will stand with and sustain you.
Photo by Victor Freitas on Unsplash.
The post Don’t Look at the Weight Before You first appeared on Joseph Iregbu.