The Great Cloud Cheering You On

(Hebrews 11–12:2)

Do you know what it is like to be tired?

There is a tiredness that has nothing to do with bedtime. It comes when you have been waiting and waiting for something good, and it has not come yet, and your legs feel heavy, and a small voice inside you says, Maybe you should just stop.

There were people once who felt exactly that way, and someone who loved them wrote them a letter. Here is how it was meant to be read, warm and close, as if you were the one holding the page.

Dear ones, it began. You are tired. I know. So remember the others.

There was Noah, who built a great boat on dry land when there was not a rain cloud in the sky, because God had told him what was coming.

There was Abraham, who packed up everything and walked toward a home he had never seen, trusting it was real.

There was Sarah, old and laughing, holding a baby she had waited a whole lifetime for.

There was Moses, who chose to belong to God's tired, unwanted people, when he could have lived like a prince.

And so many more. People who were afraid, people who were small, people who got things wrong.

But they all had one thing in common.

They believed God was keeping a promise. Even though not one of them lived to see it finished.

Deep down, every one of them was leaning forward, listening, aching for Someone they could not quite see yet. They held onto God's promise in the dark, the way you hold a hand you trust when the lights go out.

And the letter says they are not gone. They are watching. Picture it. A great, huge crowd, all the brave waiting ones, gathered round like the biggest stadium you have ever imagined. This is God's family, and not one of them is missing. And every single one of them is cheering. For you.

You are running too, little one. The waiting is your race, and it is long, and sometimes your legs go heavy, and that small voice says stop.

So the letter tells you the one thing that helps most of all. Instead of staring at your tired feet, instead of counting how far you still have to go, look up. Look at Jesus.

Because all those waiting ones, Noah and Abraham and Sarah and Moses, they were leaning toward Him the whole time. He is the One they could not quite see. He is the promise, finally with a face.

And Jesus ran a race too, the hardest one. He kept going all the way to the cross, through the very worst of it. Do you know why he did not stop?

Because of the joy set before him. Because at the end of his running was you. Bringing you home was his joy. You were the gladness that kept him going.

So when you are tired of waiting, remember this. He has already reached the end. He is not only cheering from somewhere far off. He is standing at the finish with his arms wide open, watching you come.

You do not have to run fast.

You only have to keep your eyes on Him, one step, and then the next, while the whole cheering crowd leans over the rail, and Jesus calls your name, and the ground under your feet gets closer and closer to home.