When You Grow Weary and Want to Give Up

Think of him who endured such opposition against himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up.

Hebrews 12:3, NET

Sometimes third and fourth-degree burns cause severe nerve damage, resulting in chronic pain. The problem for burn survivors and those who love them is that it takes time to know if such damage will be one’s fate. In the months after burn trauma, the miraculous human body produces millions of new cells to replenish the skin. It is after those wounds close and the hope of returning to regular activity rises that the devastating reality often comes: There may be no end to this pain.

Pain specialists have carefully studied the relationship between pain and endurance. Research suggests that having a clear sense of when the pain will end can reduce perceived intensity and increase pain tolerance. But when the pain is open-ended, with no clear stopping point, uncertainty amplifies mental fatigue and prompts premature quitting.

How gratifying that science proves what we know from Scripture again and again.

The writer of Hebrews encourages us to look to Jesus, the Guarantor that pain will, indeed, end. With that joyful hope in mind, endure!

Isaiah described the promised Messiah as a healer. In His time on earth, Jesus healed physical ailments, mental illness, emotional bondage, and ultimately, through His death and resurrection, the terminal spiritual disease of humanity.

For all who believe in Jesus, there will be an end to pain. #hope Share on X

But today, we are suffering. We must rise and work all the same. Our souls grow weary with the constant pain that throbs through our lives via social media, news reports, and the neighbor next door. Perhaps the person sleeping under our roof. 

Is your soul weary today? Are you near giving up? There is a way to endure. 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Think of him who endured such opposition against himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up.

Hebrews 12:1-3

Think of him

Some pain studies focus on the mind, on what those facing pain think. The writer of Hebrews already knew this was the secret. 

Think of Jesus, and all He endured against Himself. So much opposition. Assault. Hatred. Slander. Accusation. Betrayal. Death. He was thinking about you and me. He did this all for the joy of abolishing pain forever.

Lighten the Load

It is so much easier to travel long if one travels light. What is weighing you down today? Get rid of it by placing it into the capable hands of Jesus.

Give Yourself Space

For a time, burn survivors must wear bandages that protect the damaged areas. In due course, if those bandages remain, what was once protective becomes restrictive and harmful. At a certain point in the healing process, the skin needs space and oxygen to continue healing. 

Is there something in your pain that was once comforting and necessary, but is now confining? Clinging? Has something once good become sinful?

It may be time to unwrap yourself and give your healing space to accelerate.

fix your Eyes

The day my son stood for the first time after a devastating burn accident threatened to rob him of ever walking again, he fixed his eyes straight ahead. He did not look at me or his dad. He looked straight ahead and took a step. Then another, and another, never moving his focus. Today, he runs for exercise and stands for hours in a kitchen, doing the joyful work of cooking that once threatened to take his life.

Where we look makes a difference in the outcome of our race.

Weary one, lift your eyes today. Fix them on the One who secured the race we run. 

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. 

Revelation 21:4

Lord, I want to be an endurance runner. I fix my eyes on You today, and I can’t wait to fall into Your arms at the finish line. Amen.

@audreycfrank