Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down.
Hebrews 12:11 “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them who are exercised thereby.”
Have you been exercised thereby? Simply, have you learned from your failures?
You see, this term is from the training those of fighters that went into Roman arena for sport.
They would be trained by a master trainer, and they would get plenty of bumps and bruises along the way.
To be “exercised thereby” is to learn, through all the training, how to use your hands and feet aright.
The training was strenuous and extensive. It covered attitude, as well as form. It covered strength, as well as technique. And if you really wanted to learn, the master trainer would often give extra time to teach you with harder things. (Yes, that usually meant more bruises.)
Here, it is talking about our learning from the hands of our Heavenly Father, who has to correct us, when we error; so we can learn to walk and stand aright.
Hebrews 12:12 “Wherefore lift the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees:”
Our hands symbolize everything that we accomplish, in the will of God. Everything that is our responsibility to do.
Therefore if they hang down; become weakened by discouragement or “weary in well doing” (Galatians 6:9), then we can not have the victory in the battle. (And sometimes the consequences of this discouragement, lasts for a long time)
Our knees are feeble, when our hearts begin to weaken, and our minds begin to wander.
They can hardly hold our weight; for we are burdened with the cares of this life.
We have forgotten that we are yoked with Christ, and that we are to:
“Come to Him, all ye that labor and are heavy ladened”. (Matthew 11:28-30)
We are to come, all through our life and walk, to Christ, as our yoke partner.
Hebrews 12:13 “And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which be lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.”
Outward problems come when we do not maintain our way before God.
Perhaps we think we know what we should do.
Perhaps we have been careless in letting something “slip”.
Perhaps we have been too tired, and feeling sorry for ourselves, we have not put forth the effort, or even asked for the strength we need.
Proverbs 4:25-27 “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.”
However we have stumbled in our ways, we are to “straighten” them. Set them right before the Lord, by confession and ask for joy and peace; strength and courage, to conquer our hinderances.
So that none that follow after will be turned aside by our lack of maintaining our way.
“Healed” is the ultimate goal of all who are in such a situation.
Don’t doubt.
Don’t fear.
Come to Christ, and be restored to spiritual health.
The verse says, “let it” be healed.
How often the Lord would give us joy for sorrow; and we have turned away from Him, because we want the circumstances to change, not us.
You see, “happiness” has to do with our circumstances. If they are good to us, we are happy.
Joy, on the other hand, comes directly from the Lord to us, through His Holy Spirit within. It does not care about circumstances (and often comes in the worst circumstances, as we believe God), because it cares only about our relationship to God.
He showed me once, that He would give joy a lot more often, if I would “Let it”.
All this comes as our Heavenly Father corrects our failures, to bring us into a closer relationship to Him.
When we see the correction; to “let” ourselves be healed, we must see our Father’s love behind them.
Hebrews 12:7, 9-10, 14 “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he who the Father chasteneth not?
Furthermore, we have had father’s of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits, and live?
For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness.
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:”
His great love for us is the reason He corrects us.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 