When Walking Hurts

Yesterday morning God prompted me to go on an early morning walk.  I woke up with expectancy, believing God would teach me something.  It was chilly and dark as I set out around 5:30am.  Every time I stepped on my right foot, I winced because of sharp pain.  The day before I had strained or sprained part of my foot, perhaps while lifting weights.  It made walking very difficult without a pronounced hobble.  But I gritted my teeth and kept on, thinking the foot simply needed to be stretched out.  The pain was still there.  It grew to the point of being almost unbearable.  "I don't know that I can do this," I said to God.  Because walking hurt, I didn't feel like doing it.  I could only maintain a decent pace with great effort.

It was in this moment that it dawned on me.  Following Jesus isn't easy.  In fact, the Christian walk can sometimes be downright painful.  In the painful moments we face the temptation to quit.  We are not to tempted necessarily to quit believing in Christ, but to abandon tasks which seem to stretch before us for miles.  I found that when I focused on the pain, it felt worse and worse.  But when I thought about why I was walking - because God told me to - I was able to slowly walk through the pain.  When Jesus is our pursuit and passion, even the hurts of this life won't prevent us from pressing on with Him.  He won't leave or forsake me, and I've decided never to quit on Him.

My walk didn't last very long, maybe 10 minutes.  But in that time I learned something I hope to remember for the rest of my life.  The pain people experience takes many forms, and pain can be a big distraction that takes our focus from God and places it on ourselves.  Let us be moved with compassion for those who are in pain.  In a spiritual or emotional sense they are hobbling on, or perhaps even collapsed by the footpath in tears.  In their pursuit of Christ their pain has knocked them off their feet and they are confused and feel forsaken.  We do not lose valuable time in our race to lift them up with our hands, lend a shoulder for support, or offer a kind word of encouragement.  Let us not pass by those who are struggling for life, looking upon them with disdain as the Pharisee and Levite did in Christ's story of the Good Samaritan.  Do not be repulsed by what you perceive as weakness.  If we are strong then our weakness remains.  God's grace is sufficient for us:  when we are weak we are strong (2 Cor. 12:9-10).  When we bear one another's burdens we fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2).

Are you in pain?  Keep on following Jesus.  Even as a good shepherd will notice when his prize sheep walks with a limp and will investigate for the purpose of treatment and restoration, so Christ does for us.  May we do so for one another, following the example of our loving Saviour!  Christ makes the blind to see and the lame to walk, leap, and praise Him!