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“For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,
“’My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;
For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
And He scourges every son whom He receives.’
“It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12:3-7 NASB1995)
Now Jesus Christ was not born with a sin nature as we are, because he was conceived of the Spirit of God and not of man. And while he lived on the earth he never sinned. But Jesus strived against sin to the point of shedding his blood on a cross to put our sins to death with him, so that, by God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in him we will now die to sin and live to God and to his righteousness. And sin doesn’t have to be some major moral failure. Sin can be doubt, fear, lack of faith, and retreat, which disable our work for God.
So we need to be those who follow the example of Christ, who resist the devil, who flee temptation, and who draw near to God in full assurance of faith, regardless of our circumstances. For the devil likes to “put us through the wringer” (to subject us to very stressful experiences) in hopes that we will fail, and that we will give up the fight, and that we will retreat out of sadness, fear, and physical and mental and emotional exhaustion. But the Lord allows us to go through difficult times of suffering for his purposes.
Just like he allowed the devil to inflict God’s servant Job, to murder his children and his servants and his livestock, and to give Job painful sores all over his body, to test Job’s faith, God will allow difficulties to come into our lives to test our faith, too. This is the discipline of the Lord in our lives to keep us humble, to purify our hearts, to purge us of any known sins in our lives, to keep us focused on God’s purpose for our lives, and to teach us endurance, patience, love, and compassion, that we might grow in Christ.
But when I look at the world around me, in our present day and age, and I see so many signs of the last days, and of times of tribulation, and of the nearness of our Lord’s return, I can’t help but feel that God is allowing some of us to suffer in painful ways because he is getting us ready for greater sufferings yet to come. And/or he is getting us ready for his soon return, so he is purifying our hearts to make us ready for when we will meet our Lord face to face. For the Scriptures talk about that, I think in Revelation.
[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 7:13-14; Matthew 10:16-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; John 17:14; Romans 5:3-5; Philippians 3:7-11; 1 Peter 1:6-7; 1 Peter 4:12-17; 2 Timothy 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5; James 1:2-4; 2 Corinthians 1:3-11; Hebrews 12:3-12; 1 John 3:13; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13]
Be Still, My Soul
Hymn lyrics by Katharina von Schlegel, pub.1752
tr. by Jane L. Borthwick, pub.1855
Music by Jean Sibelius, 1899
Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heav’nly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.
Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all He takes away.
Be still, my soul: the hour is hast’ning on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.
Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise
On earth, believing, to Thy Lord on high;
Acknowledge Him in all thy words and ways,
So shall He view thee with a well-pleased eye.
Be still, my soul: the Sun of life divine
Through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine.
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Do Not Grow Weary or Lose Heart
An Original Work / November 26, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
