Hallstrom Heart & Home
"Let us not become weary in doing good,
for at the proper time we will
reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Galatians 6:9
This verse is one that the Lord has used to minister to me personally over the last few years. Today however, the Holy Spirit arrested my attention on one particular word within the text: "If we do not give up." I had read these words so many times - and yet I had never looked into the meaning of the final words of this verse. Different versions of the verse write, "we will reap if we do not lose heart" and, "we will reap, if we do not become weary." The Amplified Bible writes, "for at the proper time we will reap, if we do not give in."
The word for 'proper time' is kairos. Karios means opportune or seasonable time, the right time. Our harvest is scheduled for the exact time in which the Lord has ordained it to happen. There is a perfect, opportune moment for your promise to come. That time is up to the Lord. He ordains the harvest.
To be perfectly honest with you dear reader, this verse hits extremely close to home for me. Not only because I have personally seen and been through the trials of not giving up; but because I have seen what happens when someone loses the battle. I have seen what happens when someone grows too weary and gives up before reaching the promised land. You may also have a friend or family member that has given up too early and never realized the fullness of reaping the harvest.
In the wilderness, the Israelites hardened their hearts and turned themselves against believing that the Lord God wanted good things for them. The Lord brought them up out of Egypt, showed them wonderful signs and miracles in the wilderness, and just as they were on the edge of the promised land they gave in to fear instead of taking hold of courage and believing in faith that God would do as He said He would. The author of Hebrews has some harsh words for these men and women who refused to believe. Hebrews calls them disobedient, deceived by sin, even though they "saw My works for forty years." (Hebrews 3:9)
Not believing that the Lord will do as He promised is disobedient to Him who gave the promise, and it's choosing to be deceived by sin instead of taking hold of faith and trusting in the Lord.
Someone close to me grew weary in doing good. I have seen the steady decline in this person's health, emotions, mental state, and overall well-being as a result of choosing to grow weary. In the end, their trust in fear rather than faith in God's Word caused them to give up on a specific promise God gave them for their future. The fate of those who choose not to believe is dying in the wilderness, and never reaching the Promised Land.
Galatians 6:9 sits in my current reading page in my Bible, and every morning I open up the Word and read this promise again, "Keep me from growing weary Lord. Guard my steps as today I choose to do good, for at the proper time (karios) I know I will reap a harvest if I do not give in."
Today as I was reading these words the Holy Spirit asked me, "What does 'do not give up' mean?" I immediately went to look it up, and my heart quickened within me when I realized what it said. The Greek word for 'do not give up' or 'do not lose heart' is translated specifically as "if we faint not." This word for faint is ekluō, which means to relax.
Suddenly, as I read these words I felt the Sword of the Spirit piercing through me into the very depths, convicting me of every time I have relaxed, becoming lazy while I wait on the promises to be fulfilled. I was reminded of the days in which I have woken up and declared to the Lord, "today, I can't. Today I don't have the energy." God isn't just saying "don't lose heart" when life gets tough. He's saying "do not relax in contending for the promise."
He's saying, "Do not take time to believe in the fear of your heart, instead choose the faith of My word. Do not take time to let go of the promise because your heart hurts from the waiting. Do not relax your grip on the promise you are praying for!"
Ekluō also means to loose, unloose, to set free. To have one' s strength relaxed, to be enfeebled through exhaustion, to grow weak, grow weary, be tired out. There are going to be very tough days, weeks and months as we're contending for our Promised Land - but Paul is saying "Do NOT grow weary, do NOT be lazy!" Do not loosen your grip on the promise!
This will require real work and effort to stay in belief, to stay fastened to the Word of God. It will require your time and energy. In order to not become weary, it means there will be months and even years of filling your mind and heart with sermons as you struggle through the fear of unbelief, and grab fast to the faith of God's promises. Do not lose heart though. Instead, take up the mantle of responsibility and dive into God's Word while you wait.
Some Days, All You Have Are Tears
And that's ok! On the days in which I told the Lord, "I can't and I won't" were the days in which my battles increased. But on the days in which I arose from my bed and cried to the Lord, "my heart hurts so much!" He battled every battle for me as I wept at His feet. On the hard days, just weep - He will take care of everything else.
"My tears have been my food day and night,
While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
Psalm 42:3
There will be days in which your only nourishment and food will be tears. On those days, come to the throne with a heart of sadness and just weep in His presence. He will show up as your Yeshua Hamashiach - your anointed Savior.
But how many days do you rise like I have and said, "Today my heart hurts too much to believe that You are faithful to deliver as You promised?" And relax in your faith walk on those days? How many days in your waiting period do you allow the weariness to override the Lord's goodness and His Word? On those days the Holy Spirit is saying: do not grow lazy while you wait - even though it hurts.
Embrace The Pain & The Hurt
This past week I went through a particularly hard trial of betrayal. After an extremely tough day, I laid in bed with tears leaking out the corners of my eyes and I said to Jesus, "it hurts, I don't want to be in pain." I was about to shut my heart down from feeling the intensity of the fullness of what was going on when suddenly in my spirit I heard a horn impatiently beep and He said, "You're not getting it. You're staying stuck in the pain when you don't embrace it."
And in the depths of me I turned my heart to Jesus and I said, "I will embrace every pain, every hard time, just as You embraced every whip, every beating, for me."
In that moment, with my eyes closed, the Holy Spirit suddenly flicked on a light behind my eyelids and my eyes were momentarily blinded by the brightness. As if to be sure I had seen it to the fullest, He flicked the light on and off a few times before it went out completely. And then I heard, "Well done."
And I knew I was somehow passing a test that I had been failing for some time. The test of trying to get around painful circumstances for a season, or ignoring the pain for a few days instead of facing it head on right away. In that moment, I knew that the obedient thing to do is to embrace every heartache, every painful experience, as a lover embraces her beloved.
Because that, that is what Jesus has done for us. He embraced every pain, cried every tear that came to Him when His heart broke for His people. He didn't just endure every whip, He accepted it for you and for me. He hugged the pain and allowed the cross to kiss His body, that you and I may have life more abundantly.
Our true freedom from past mistakes and current hurts comes from embracing the pain that resides within those circumstances. The Lord Himself endured all things so that through His death, we might be born again into a new family. But His death didn't just bring about our eternal life, it also paid for us to be healed, to be condemnation and guilt free, to be loved and favored and blessed by Him. His painful death bought our abundant life.
But sometimes that abundance comes through a death in us too. As we wait and experience pain in the waiting, our flesh is dying and our spirit is reviving. This death of the flesh will be painful, and sometimes excruciating - but new life will be born through the ashes of grief.
So today if it hurts, if the waiting is hard and you desire to relax your grip on the promise, don't. Instead, embrace the pain of waiting, embrace the trial and let Jesus come minister to you in your tribulation as you wait for Him to deliver what He said He would.
The only way through every heartache and every grief is to turn toward it and to walk through it. You will find that as you face it and walk into it, that the pain will move quickly through you and soon you will be through the worst of it. Keep walking in it and then you will get through it completely.
"And not only this, but [with joy] let us exult in our sufferings and rejoice in our hardships, knowing that hardship (distress, pressure, trouble) produces patient endurance; and endurance, proven character (spiritual maturity); and proven character, hope and confident assurance [of eternal salvation]. Such hope [in God’s promises] never disappoints us, because God’s love has been abundantly poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."
Romans 5:3-5
Rejoice in your sufferings as Paul did, embrace the pain as Jesus did, and one day soon, in your kairos moment, the promise will come.
With joy,
Jessica
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