Getting Better Takes Work

“Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.” (Heb 12:12-13 AV)

Note the lame must do his own work to both protect from further injury and to heal.  The LORD is telling he who was corrected to lift up the hands and straighten the knees.  Then the lame must make the path straight while he is still lame.  Maturing is a painful process.  Learning obedience and faith is not for the faint of heart.  It takes much hardship, crisis, and stress.  Along the way, the two-edged sword does some corrective work.  This can leave scars.  This can cause a bit of handicap.  However, this does not mean the corrected one cannot be made whole.  To be left permanently damaged is not God’s plan.  Healing is in His wings.  What that doesn’t mean is the LORD will do all the work for us.  There has to be some investment, or we will fall back into the pattern that caused the injury to begin with.

Having gone through physical therapy for my shoulder, I can tell you the therapist pushes you to the edge.  My shoulder went bad because I carried golf bags for five years and, as a child, a newspaper sack full of the Sunday papers.  A callous grew so big, I almost lost the use of my shoulder.  After successful surgery, it was off to the therapist.  The worst exercise of all was tracing the alphabet on a wall with a large ball in hand.  Not fun.  The picture above is even more extreme.  A man who is lame on his feet, taking rake and shovel in hand, slowly making a straight-and-level path.  Perhaps he had a scythe or ax in hand to fell some trees as well.  The responsibility of clearing a path and leveling it is not that of the one who made him lame.  Because his lameness was earned by his own poor choices, it was up to him to contribute to the way out.  This may seem cruel.  But it is necessary.  We see this with patients.  The care-giver team does only that which is absolutely necessary for the patient.  Whatever the patient can do for him or herself is required.  If not, the patient can cause greater long-term damage.  Pushing that patient to the limit only strengthens hom or her.

Note the present tense here.  Those making the straight path are lame.  Not ‘was’ lame.  Those who are lame need healing.  Making the straight paths is part of that healing.  There is a two-step process to making a straight a level path.  One must remove that which would trip us the pilgrim.  He must also add sod, dirt, pebble, or brick for the low spots along the way.  One must remove what doesn’t belong and bring in that which does.  God is not going to do this for us.  He will guide.  He will give instructions.  But the doing of the work is up to the one who remains lame.  We have gentlemen who need knee surgery.  However, because he has been favoring that knee, some leg muscles have atrophied.  So, his surgery is put off until he works as strengthening the rest of his leg.  The lame must do the work before the lame can be made whole.  We cannot sit around expecting God to fix it all while we remain idle in our efforts.  This is the hard reality of living healthy.  Health is work.  Work that belongs to the sick.  Work that belongs to the lame.