Message summary: Are you dealing with setbacks that weary you along the way?  Strengthen or lift up your arms today in faith and praise to God.

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"Think how you have instructed many, how you have strengthened feeble hands. Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees" (Job 4:3,4). "Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, 'Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, but He will save you'" (Isaiah 35:3,4). "Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees" (Hebrews 12:12).

The last several days my (Stephen's) left knee has really been hurting. This is ultimately a result of an injury I had in college over 50 years ago. At that time I had surgery and was advised an injury like this will likely cause arthritic pain as you age. Well, they were right! Periodically it flares up and at one point about 30 years ago I had arthroscopic surgery which has helped for many years.

Yesterday I went to the Lancaster Orthopedic Group which uses the acronym "LOG" which sure is not what you want your joints to be! After an exam and x-ray I was informed it was "bone on bone", something I've learned you would prefer not to hear.

What an amazing part of our body our knees are. I first used them to crawl and then walk and then consider all the activities of 70+ years of life. I was active in sports, running long distance, tennis and still bicycling which involves a lot of bends!

Sometimes trustworthy AI informed me that for most active adults, knees bend millions of times in a lifetime, and the exact number depends on your daily movement habits. For active people it can add up to 100's of millions of lifetime bends. It would be interesting to have a "knee bend counter" and see how many on just one 20 mile bike ride!

In the Bible most references to knees have to do with bowing such as "Every knee shall bow".

But there a couple of references to weak knees. With aging we encounter a lot of people in our age bracket that have knee problems in one way or another. It was surely prevalent in the Bible times as well!

Our first daily text is a commendation to Job from his friend Eliphaz. Prior to his time of testing Job apparently had an esteemed teaching ministry. He had instructed many, strengthened feeble hands, supported those who stumbled and strengthened faltering knees. That remains the essential heart of ministry to those who are in need today.

Our second daily text is a rich powerful gem from Isaiah, indicative of the riches in God's word, many yet undiscovered even to longtime Bible readers. Or maybe we just forget!

One or both of these texts may be the inspiration for our third daily text that comes from a section of Hebrews where followers of Christ are implored to be persevering. The chapter begins with a call to "run with perseverance the race marked out for us". This is one of the great Biblical texts describing the long-term nature of our service for Christ. The strenuous race we run is not a brief sprint but a life-long marathon.

"Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees." The verse that immediately precedes this text states that "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it" (12:11).

As we run the race for Christ sometimes everything just seems to be going great; runners describe this by using the terms, "having the wind" or being "in pace". And nothing hurts!

But at other times the going is really tough. These providential hard times are ultimately a part of God's disciplinary work in our lives.

Do you find that your hands are drooping or your knees are weak today, figuratively speaking or physically, for that matter? Are you dealing with setbacks in life that weary you along the way?

Strengthen or lift up your arms today in faith and praise to God. This must primarily be an act of willful obedience rather than an emotional response. As you lift them up in obedience as a daily spiritual exercise I believe you will experience the uplifting spiritual, physical and mental revitalization that Isaiah writes about in 40:29, "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak".

Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13.

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber