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We are bombarded at every turn with news that shocks us or fills us with sadness, leaving us feeling helpless and hopeless. Shocking things are happening at every turn and we are unable to rid ourselves of that overwhelm. We learn to live with it, but rising up each day is an effort and our days are marked with weariness that will not go away.

What happened? I don’t recall it ever being like this before! Since the world stood still in 2020 things have never been the same! And no matter how much effort is made, things are never going to be the same again.  However, contrary to natural thinking, this can be a blessing in disguise!

There is nothing like a trial in life to cause us to lose our hold on those things that we were grasping onto before. God has something so much better for those who are trusting in Him than the best this sad old world has to give.

When we prosper, when we are in good health, and when all seems to be well, we have little regard for that which is of real value. We are ticking along on our own and enjoying our so called independence. But just let a bit of suffering come our way and suddenly we view life and its trinkets from a very different perspective. Suddenly that which we leaned upon and even took for granted is no longer sufficient for our needs.

How is it possible to live at such a time as this without being consumed?

The answer is found as always in the precious Word of God:

“… Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself,
lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.”
Hebrews 12: 3

Take time out from the busyness of this insane world in which we are living, and consider the One who knew first hand what it was like to live among people who were attempting to make His life as difficult as possible. At every turn there was somebody waiting to catch Him and condemn Him in His words or deeds.

Consider Him, because in doing so we will learn how to navigate our way through each day as they come. Without such consideration we can and often get ‘weary and faint in our minds’.

But where do we begin? How can merely considering, remembering, and thinking on Him lift us up and enable us to get on with living?

The Lord Jesus pinpointed the answer for us by drawing our attention to the importance of learning and growing, which in turn would enable us to better ‘consider Him’. This is His timeless invitation to one and all:

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;
for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11: 29-31

His definition of weary and fainthearted is ‘weary and heavy laden’. And He invites us to ‘Come unto Him’; for He not only has the answer to our weariness, but He IS the answer!

His rest is the antithesis to being weary and faint in our minds!

The answer to this all lies in drawing near to Him, slipping under His yoke, (the one He tailor made for us), and ‘learning of Him’! He wants us to discover how precious His character is. He wants us to get to know Him intimately, not just follow Him ‘afar off’. He came to be so much more to us than the Saviour from our sins only, but He came to be the Lover of our souls! He wants us to treasure everything about Him we will learn.

He introduces Himself to us as the One who is ‘meek and lowly in heart’. This is the One who is in essence all powerful, but He exercises complete control with that power. And along with this power under His control, He is humble! Imagine that! Almighty God is a humble God! And He in a human body displayed His humble character through His precious only begotten Son. Truly we cannot but profit greatly by learning of such a One as He!

And the promise to those who do come, and learn of Him is: ‘ye shall find rest unto your souls’. What a promise this is! He didn’t tell us that ‘you may find’ but ‘ye shall find rest…’ And I might add in passing: finding something is usually the result of searching for it in the first place! What a precious reward for responding to His invitation to ‘come…’!

Once we have come to know precious and personal things about the One who loves us so, another verse of Scripture is brought before us that comes in the form of a precious promise, which answers our frailty and likelihood of being overcome as the world system attempts to envelop us:

“… They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, and not be weary;
and they shall walk, and not faint.”
Isaiah 40: 31

Having considered such a One as He who lived in this hostile environment every day of His life, and having learned something of His precious character, we begin to grow in assurance of the One in whom we are trusting. ‘Waiting upon Him’ will then become our spiritual goal. And in doing so, our strength will be changed so that we can become people of courage and integrity.

There is nothing to match a deep, personal and intimate knowledge of God.

Such treasure from high places abiding in the heart will anchor us firmly upon Him, enabling us to live powerful lives in the very place where He has carefully situated us. Perhaps as students, homemakers, employees. Perhaps as parents, grandparents. Perhaps as carers or those being cared for. The list goes on and on. This means anyone from any walk of life, from any generation. Nobody excluded!

Waiting upon such a One as He, means handing all that we are and have over to His dominion. Waiting upon Him, serving Him, waiting for Him, and learning of Him empowers us with strength we never had before to do things we would never have been able to do naturally.

Imagine being like the eagle soaring high above the earth, seeing life from a very different perspective. The very storm that troubles people under it drives the eagle upwards. With effortless majestic beauty he spreads his wings and up he goes. Just remember the Bible says of those of us who have trusted in the Lord Jesus that: “Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world,” (1 John 4: 4), so we have the potential to be ‘as eagles’ entertaining elevated thoughts from heavenly places while manoeuvring our way through daily living here and now!

This surely gives meaning to what it is to ‘run, and not be weary; and to walk, and not faint’!

God has given to us a race to run, and a path to walk, and with our eyes fixed on our beloved Lord we will arrive at our destination without falling by the way. 

“… Let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith”
Hebrews 12: 1-2
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2: 10

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Related Link - Wait On Him (Poem)

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Here's how to know for sure you can be among those who are certain and ready for heaven 
It's as simple as 'ABC'

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