Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way. – Isaiah 35:3

Today's Scripture Reading (April 13, 2023): Isaiah 35

I have begun to watch a little more baseball in the last couple of years. I admit that I am a bit of a fair-weather baseball fan. I am a fan of the Toronto Blue Jays; I tend to watch more games when the Jays are winning than I do when they are losing. I am not a bandwagon guy; the Blue Jays are always my team, I am not about to cheer for another team just because the Blue Jays have a lousy team, but my love of the Blue Jays is more often reflected by the time that I am willing to spend watching them when they are playing well.

So as the 2023 season begins, I am interested in getting to know some of the players featured on this MLB Team. And one of them is starting pitcher Alex Manoah. Manoah seems to have had a bit of a unique upbringing. Specifically, Manoah had a tricky relationship with his father, Erik Manoah Sr. When Alex and his brother were young, Dad didn't seem to understand how to handle kids. He was a bit of a disciplinarian, putting pressure on his kids that the children didn't deserve. Dad would sometimes offer his sons a hundred dollars if they could go three for three in batting during a game, but if they could not get a hit in their Little League game, they were sometimes penalized by having to skip the evening meal.

Erik Senior put a lot of pressure on his children to perform well on the diamond, creating more stress than any child should have had to endure. Later in life, Dad's expectations caused a rift between Dad and his sons, as well as Dad and his wife. Today, all sides are trying to repair the damage as Dad recognizes his mistakes in bringing up his sons. But, while some children might have wilted under the pressure, Alex and his older brother Erik blossomed. The ball diamond became an oasis for the kids and a place to which they could escape when the pressure at home became too great.

The author of Hebrews challenges the book's readers to endure hardship as a discipline from God. After all, every loving father disciplines his children. The problem in the Alex Manoah story is that he suffered through an extreme form of discipline, not that there shouldn't have been discipline within the family unit. Discipline must consistently be correctly implemented on right things. But whatever you might think about the Manoah story, it did strengthen him. The author of Hebrews then says that our earthly fathers

… disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it (Hebrews 12:10-11).

But then Hebrews quotes Isaiah 35:3. "Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees (Hebrews 12:12). Stay in the game. Don't let the hardship of life take you out. Let it strengthen you. And recognize that if the hardship is from God, then your God, who is a good Father, will also come and save you.

But if we don't stay strong, none of that will matter.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 36