Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the failing knees;
The words come right after the passage on God's discipline of His children. They turn a hard subject into a call to get up and keep going. So why does a believer still droop after hearing that suffering is a Father's training? And what puts strength back into slack hands and shaking knees?
The language describes a body that has run out of fuel. One writer sets the beginning of a race beside its end:
The Hebrews clearly tended to faint under their troubles. So verse 12, in the light of these facts about God's discipline, calls them to renewed energy in the race. Watch those runners at the start of a marathon. Their arms are lifted firmly at their sides, their step is springy, their knees strong. Now look at them as they near the finish an hour or two later. Most have run themselves out. Their hands hang down and their knees tremble as they doggedly stumble on.
You might expect talk of God's correction to flatten a struggling believer further. Understood rightly, it does the opposite:
"Therefore lift…" We are to renew our energies precisely because we know what God's discipline is meant to do. We might have imagined that talking to a poor, feeble, stumbling believer about God's discipline would be just the thing to cast him down. In fact, rightly understood, it is just the thing to lift him up. What could be more encouraging? All God's dealings aim at promoting holiness and righteousness. They also aim at keeping us from the sin and the weights that would slow us in the race.
Drooping hands are common. Another writer says they are never reasonable, and gives his reason:
In verse 12 we are urged not to let our hands hang down. There is no reason why it should be so. Though you are being disciplined, there is not one single reason why your hands should hang down or your knees be feeble. The Spirit has shown you yourself first in company with Christ, and then with your Father who loves you. Is there any reason why you should travel as if you did not know the road?
Hands and knees have another use. One commentator ties the drooping to prayer:
First, the apostle says, "Lift up" the listless hands and the feeble knees. If spiritual energy is flagging, then encourage others by lifting up your own hands. May we not apply this to prayer? Writing to Timothy, the apostle says, "I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands" (1 Timothy 2:8). Hands that hang down and knees that are feeble may well speak of hands seldom lifted in prayer and knees seldom bent in prayer. Long ago the prophet said, "Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength" (Isaiah 40:30-31). Are we not too often powerless in public because prayerless in private?
The lifting comes with the next line about straight paths. A tired believer cannot find strength just anywhere:
There need be no discouragement. They must lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees. Along with that, they must make straight paths for their feet, so that even the lame are not turned out of the way, but healed of their lameness. It is only in God's path for us that power is found, whatever the difficulties. The weaker we are, the more urgent our desire should be to walk in the only place where He can be with us. What are all the difficulties then?
Your recovered strength is not a private matter. A courageous walk is itself a message to those who are limping behind:
On the principle of grace, the Hebrews are urged to encourage themselves in the path of faith… They were to walk with such courage that the weak would see their joy and blessing, and feel that this was their own assured portion too. Such joy is always a distinct testimony, and one that triumphs over the enemy. So the weak would receive strength and healing instead of discouragement. As for circumstances, the path of godliness was to be made easy — a well-worn path for weak and lame souls. Weak souls feel the comfort and value of such a path more than stronger ones do.
- Droop — Hanging hands and shaking knees mark a runner who has spent himself. The verse speaks to real exhaustion, not imagined weakness.
- Reason — The drooping has no ground. The Spirit has shown the believer his place with Christ, and a Father whose correction aims at holiness. So the passage on discipline ends in a lift, not a crush.
- Lift — Hands lift and knees bend in prayer. Those who wait for the LORD renew their strength; those prayerless in private end up powerless in public.
- Path — Strength returns only on the straight path God marks out. The weaker you are, the more urgent it is to walk where He can be with you.
- Others — A courageous walk beats a track the lame can follow. Your recovered strength heals them instead of discouraging them.
and make straight paths for your feet, that that which is lame be not turned aside; but that rather it may be healed.
These words come straight after the long passage on God's discipline, and they turn the reader's attention outward. The question is not only "am I walking straight?" but "what happens to the weakest person behind me?"
Earlier in the chapter the picture is a race. Here it changes.
But the picture is now widened, from running the race to the straight paths for the walk. Such paths matter most for those who are weak on the road. Romans 14 and 15 tell us where these weak ones came from, and what their weakness was: a clash with Gentile brothers who boasted of strength.
The shape of the road itself does something to the person walking it.
In the knowledge of God there is no room for discouragement. Hands are for active work. Our knees should have strength to let us stand with firm decision. Our feet are for walking, and should have "straight paths" so that there is no aimless wandering, but definite purpose. What is more, an uneven, twisting path would itself discourage "what is lame." We may be guilty of discouraging others when we fail to hold fast to the straight paths of the Word of God. The straight path itself is never responsible for discouragement. It tends to heal instead. Walking in such paths will tend to restore and heal those who falter.
The verse is not talking about unbelievers. The surrounding verses hold two very different kinds of people side by side, and they call for opposite treatment.
What is more, we are to consider the welfare of others and not only our own. Verses 13 to 17 turn our thoughts in this direction. They speak of two classes — the lame and the profane. The lame are believers who are weak in faith. The profane are those who may have made a profession and come among Christians, but all the while they prefer the world.
Lameness has more than one cause. One of them is pressure from other Christians.
This exhortation points mainly to the restoration and happier progress of certain believers. Through lack of faith, or too little knowledge, or perhaps through blameworthy neglect, they had fallen lame. They were in danger of turning out of the right ways of the Lord... The strong are to bear the weaknesses of the weak, and not to please themselves. We must not press the fainthearted beyond their strength. Souls driven further than their faith can carry them soon fall lame.
The verse says your feet, because others take their bearings from them. Older translations read "turned out of the way" where the ESV has "put out of joint."
In a day when many wander into crooked paths, let us be careful to make straight paths for our feet, so that none turn out of the way. Many are lame and halting in their walk. They are not sure of the path they are treading, and have no clear view of the place they are in. Small provocation turns such people aside. How important, then, that we give no occasion of stumbling by following some doubtful course. One unwise act by an older believer can open a door through which the younger ones pass, and so turn out of the way.
The cost of a crooked walk is therefore never paid by the walker alone.
We will make a straight path if we are looking to Jesus and running with patience; but if not, it is not only that we have turned aside from the appointed course — that which is lame will also be turned out of the way. God keep us from turning any of His lame ones out of the way.
The verse does not settle for damage control. It ends with restoration — and the road that heals is the one already worn smooth by others walking it well.
They were to walk so bravely that their evident joy and blessing would make the weak feel that it was their own sure portion too. Such joy and blessing is always a distinct testimony, and one that triumphs over the enemy. Then strength and healing would come to them instead of discouragement. As to circumstances, the path of godliness was to be made easy, a well-worn path for weak and lame souls. They would feel the comfort and value of such a path more than stronger souls would.
Weakness, then, is an argument for staying on God's road, not for leaving it.
It is only in God's path for us that we find power, whatever the difficulties. The weaker we are, the more urgent our desire should be to walk in the one place where He can be with us. What are all the difficulties then? And here we find not only strength, but healing.
- Path, not track. The picture shifts from running a race to walking a road. A road must carry the weak as well as the strong.
- Path made plain. Straight paths mean definite purpose, not aimless wandering. A twisting path discourages the lame all by itself.
- Path watched by others. The lame are believers weak in faith, unsure where they stand. One unwise act by an older believer opens a door they walk through.
- Path kept gentle. Souls driven further than their faith can carry them fall lame. So the strong bear with the weak instead of pleasing themselves.
- Path that heals. The goal is not just avoiding harm. It is healing. The weaker we are, the more urgent it is to walk in the one place where God can be with us. There we find strength and healing.