TRIALS,
ENDURANCE DURING
ONE thing I like about going weight lifting is that I don’t go by myself. When I’m doing the bench press, begin to strain on number twelve or thirteen, and start making weird noises, it becomes obvious that I’m pressing more weight than what I can bear. It becomes evident that if I keep pressing the limits, I could very well drop the weights and let them fall down on me, cracking my sternum or crashing against my Adam’s apple.
But just in the nick of time, the gentleman who is standing over me and there to help me, reaches over me and says, “You keep pushing, but I’ve got you. Keep going but I’m here too. You don’t have to push up these last few on your own.”
Then when I’ve gone up for the last one, he does a mercy thing for me. He lifts the weights totally out of my hands and puts them on the rack. That’s grace. That’s what God does. When the weight of your trial is too heavy and you can’t keep it up, when your arms are trembling and you’re making all kinds of noises, when you’re going through difficulty, God’s grace steps in, carries the weight, picks it up, and puts it on the rack.983
[God’s Deliverance; Mercy]
Joel 3:10; 1 Cor. 10:13; 2 Cor. 12:10
THERE is a story about the Lone Ranger. He and his sidekick, Tonto, are crossing the plains. All of a sudden, a group of Indians attack from the south. Tonto says, “What do we do, Kimosabi?” He says, “Well, we should go to the north.” So they go north to run from the Indians but then shortly run into another group of Indians positioned on a northern ridge, prepared to attack also. Tonto says, “Kimosabi, what do we do now?” The Lone Ranger says, “Well, we should go west.”
They hit the western ridge only to find a group of Indians there too. Tonto says, “Well, what do we do now, Kimosabi?” The Lone Ranger says, “Well, we can only go east. That’s all that’s left.” The problem was that another group of Indians were positioned to attack from the east. They were surrounded! The Indians were slowly closing in on them from all sides. The Lone Ranger looked at Tonto and asked, “What do we do now, Tonto? These are your people.” Tonto replied, “What do you mean we, Kimosabi?”
It’s easy to jump ship when the going gets tough.984