Hurdles

Hurdles are inevitable, but how we see them changes everything. In this episode of Running Our Race, we explore how the obstacles in our lives can either become barriers that hold us back or opportunities that strengthen our faith. Through passages like Exodus 14:14, Deuteronomy 31:8, Isaiah 40:31, and Psalm 18:29, we discover that God doesn't always remove every hurdle, He equips us to overcome them.

As we continue running the race set before us, we'll reflect on what it means to trust God's strength instead of our own, seek Him first in every struggle, and allow our view of God to shape our response to pain.

No matter what hurdles you're facing today, God goes before you, fights for you, and gives you the strength to keep running.

"For by You I can run against a troop; by my God I can leap over a wall." — Psalm 18:29

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Running My Race. Today's episode is titled Hurdles. Inspiration behind this uh episode uh comes from a post I saw by Joshua Bassett. I mean I was thinking about it, I saw he's basically promoting his new book that he just came out with, and he says hurdles. Depending on perspective, it can either be an obstacle or an opportunity to strengthen your legs. I've mentioned before in previous episodes that I was previously in track. I was always intimidated by hurdles. Now, from a uh spiritual perspective, we could see that as I was scared of uh confronting a battle. If a situation occurred, I would run away rather than confront or or try to deal with a battle. I know that especially in this day and age, a lot of people try to seek the easy way out of things. And I was just thinking about how we all go through different seasons in life, personal hurdle that I had been going through. And God reminded me of this Bible verse uh various times uh during this week where I was going through something really, really hard, and it was Exodus 14, 14. The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still. In that moment, and even applying it to hurdles, uh, you can think, well, what would that have to do with going over a hurdle? Well, maybe not going over a hurdle, you would need to be still. When you know that you're capable of doing something, you're less likely to doubt yourself and more likely to do it in excellence or in a way that you receive a achievement or a goal or whatever it is, right? There was a lot of stuff that I had put in here, and last minute I came across something else, and it just took me completely for a loop. There is a few verses that I want to go over, and another one is John 16 33, and it says, In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world. When we find ourselves with hurdles um or suffering or battle, whatever you want to call it, it's really up to us on our perspective on how we take it. And when we talk about persevering and running our race, as I mentioned before, you know, like I uh hurdles, they intimidated me. So if in this Bible verse it said, Take heart, I have overcome the world, right? You will have trouble. Uh but when we think about it, after practice, maybe yeah, you you fall and you fall and you fall. But eventually you learn how to overcome a hurdle. And once you do that, you know, I think about something, you know, sometimes we as humans we fall into the same sin, sin, sin, and we fall into the same one. It's not necessarily that we open new sins, but sometimes it's us continuing in the same sin. And eventually we learn how to overcome it, right? We well, that's what we should be doing, but you know, hopefully we learn how to overcome it, we stop it, and then we um find other areas of our life that we can improve, and the point is to eventually become like Christ and more and more like him, right? So that is one way that we really do keep running our race until we reach that status of, hey, you know, obviously Paul, um the Apostle Paul, as I mentioned in previous episodes, he's mentioned it, you know, I don't feel like I quite am there yet. When I was thinking a lot about these hurdles, I found myself coming across in Deuteronomy 31, 8. The Lord himself goes before you, he will be with you, he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged. And normally this is used, you know, in when someone is um I guess being sent out, you know, stuff like that. But uh when I was thinking about hurdles, I was thinking, you know, like God is always with us. Man, sometimes we feel like it's just us and we're facing these hurdles, we're facing these battles, we're facing these situations by ourselves. But when we turn around and we look and we're like, how did that get resolved? And there's actually this uh situation that I was dealing with a couple weeks and I don't know where I looked around and I was like, How did this get resolved? And if I'm being very honest with y'all, it was when I let it go and I said, you know what, God, let your will be done. And I I prayed that every day, even though there was a day where I really was like, bruh, I don't care like what happens, happens, you know. There was like a little mustard of faith, and I was like, God, que sea tu voluntad, and that's that's how I said it. And it ended up happening, it ended up surprising me. You know, I still thank God through it, and I said, you know what? Thank you, God, for still being there with me and still letting me overcome this hurdle. In that moment, I was like, man, and I already had the idea of hurdles as the next episode, but I'm finding myself not being able to find like the verses for I started thinking throughout this hurdle, what Bible verses were inspiring you? And it was that Exodus, it was Deuteronomy, and oh John 16, 33. Then when I really started thinking about it, really started diving in in the Bible more, I came across Psalms 1829. For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God, I can leap over a wall. And man, that's literally like a hurdle right there, you know. Um, it's describing it's in the Bible, you know, you're gonna face hurdles, but I can run against a troop, and by my God, I can leap over a wall. A lot of people say this, you know, God's not gonna give you a battle that you can't overcome. He believes in you that much that he lets you come across that so that you can overcome it. Spoken on this verse the entire time, right? But in reality, part of knowing that we can leap over a wall is knowing where our strength comes from. It's knowing how how to overcome, right? Um, there's a few more verses, I'm gonna touch on them really quickly. Psalms 119 32, it says, I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart. What exactly is enlarge my heart? It's H3820, and it's kind of like a wisdom. We will know how to run when we have the proper wisdom, right? Hurdles for a moment, they can seem intimidating, but when you know how to overcome them, when you know how to how to position your feet the proper way, jump the certain height, and do it at a certain speed, you eventually overcome it, and you eventually know how to go over it. Part of that is acquiring wisdom, it's practice, it's learning how to do it. The other side, right? We can run to evil, and it says it here in Proverbs 116, for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood. We can either run in the right way, which is what I touched on in 1829, or we can run the wrong way. In Proverbs, I also found Proverbs 412 When you walk, your steps will not be impeded. When you run, you will not stumble. I love that verse because to me it ties into Isaiah 4031. But there is one more verse that I want to touch in Proverbs, and it's 18 uh 10. Name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run to it and are safe. What I have taken from it, and what has to me, I don't know how to how to say it in English, but uh Amiseme isorrema, to me, it's just in any moment I can run back to the Lord. It's like the prodigal son. You know, at any moment I realize I'm in the wrong, run to God. That's it. You know, and maybe I'll face a hurdle on the way, maybe I'll face obstacles that are telling me, hey, no, don't run to God. But as long as I keep my eyes on God, I'm gonna run to safety and I'm gonna get there safely. Just to briefly end, uh, one of my favorite verses, honestly, since I was a child, Isaiah 40 31, and it says, But those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength, they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint. There's also a very common uh verse that's used in a song that I I also love. It's in Spanish and it's uh it's a little on the older side, but great song, great message, and this one ties in a lot with the whole entire reason for starting this podcast, which is Hebrews 12.1, right, about running our race. And to me, you know, run and not grow weary, I may face battles, I may face situations, I may face moments of wanting to give up. Um but I always try to make it a point to run back to the father because I know that at the end of the day, he's there waiting for me with open arms. Uh no matter what I did, no matter situation, whether it was self-inflicted or whether it's a trial. He only wants the best for me. Humans 828, all things work together for those who love him. End off just on hurdles. I had been reading a devotional a while back. These questions really got to me, and I just want to share them with y'all. Do you let your pain shape your image of God? Does your image of God shape your pain? You seek God first in your struggles. How can you intentionally seek him more? I want to encourage y'all to, you know, reflect on these questions too. A lot of these verses, I already knew them. I've been hearing them for years. Last few weeks and these last few uh maybe even two months, uh, at this point, they have hit like they've never hit me before. It's like uh I've s I'm seeing them in a new light. This is your first time hearing these verses. I hope that you know God opens your eyes to be able to understand these verses and understand the message that I was trying to convey in this in this episode. I hope y'all tune in for the next one. Uh, thank you for tuning in, and I'll catch y'all in the next one. Peace out.