03 January 2013

Jesus has Gone Through it all Before us


I [will] move along slowly at the pace of the droves before me and that
of the children. (Genesis 33:14)

'What a beautiful picture of Jacob's thoughtfulness for the cattle and the children! He would not allow them to be driven too hard for even one day. He would not lead them at a pace equal to what a strong man like Esau could keep or expected them to keep, but only one as fast as they were able to endure. He knew exactly how far they could go in a day, and he made that his only consideration in planning their travel. He had taken the same wilderness journey years before and knew from personal experience its roughness, heat, and distance. And so he said, "I [will] move along slowly." "Since you have never been this way before" (Josh. 3:4).

We "have never been this way before," but the Lord Jesus hasIt is all untraveled and unknown ground to us, but He knows it all through personal experience. He knows the steep places that take our breath away, the rocky paths that make our feet ache, the hot and shadeless stretches that bring us to exhaustion, and the rushing rivers that we have to cross-Jesus has gone through it all before us. As John 4:6 shows, when Jesus meets the Samaritan Woman, "Now Jacob's well was there.  Jesus therefore, being wearied from his journey, sat thus by the well...." (NKJV) "Wearied", in short meaning...Jesus was worn out, tired.  He was battered by every possible torrent, but all the floodwaters corning against Him never quenched His love. Jesus was made a perfect leader by the things He suffered. "He knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust" (Ps. 103:14). Think of that when you are tempted to question the gentleness of His leading. He remembers all the time and will never make you take even one step beyond what your feet are able to endure. Never mind if you think you are unable to take another step, for either He will strengthen you to make you able, or He will call a sudden halt, and you will not have to take it at all.  
Frances Ridley Havergal

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