When I'm Too Weak To Walk

by HJS

As Moses neared the end of his life, he knew he had to prepare God's people for what was ahead. He reminded them of the time he sent twelve spies into the land and most of them came back with reports of great difficulty ahead. "Where can we go?" they cried, adding, "Our brothers made us lose heart." He reminded them that in the wilderness God had been their strength. "There," he said, "you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place." (Deuteronomy 1:29).

At the time, did the people realize that God was leading them, undergirding them, even carrying them over the rough spots? No, for they grumbled and complained. They wanted to go back to Egypt. But Moses said, "No, God was carrying you all along, even when you did not know it or feel it."

In Psalm 28:9 there is the picture of a shepherd who carries a sheep, and the Psalmist applies this to us in times when we are too weak and too discouraged to go on. Do you remember the beautiful story of the footprints, and the one questioning God asks how He could have walked with him when there was only one set of footprints? God replied, "When you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."

Someday you will look back and see His hand when you felt nothing and know that indeed He did walk with you through the dark valley. That's the truth that you have to hold on to when your emotions are telling you to quit. Then you will know He carried you, just as a father does his son.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.   PSALM 103:13-14