\u201cWhat is hiking?\u201d \u2014Joy (my middle daughter, seven)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGoing to a place where you\u2019re going for a long time where you get hot walking.\u201d \u2014Dewy (my youngest daughter, five)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have had that conversation saved in a phone note for the past five years. So adorable. So hilarious, listening to my children explain life to each other. But my then-five-year-old wasn\u2019t trying to be funny. She was experiencing hiking for the first time as a three-foot human, who felt way more of the discomfort and strain of hiking and way less of the \u201coh, look at the beautiful rocks and sky\u201d of it all. When you\u2019re little and weak and the sun is scorching and you could really use a snack and a Capri Sun, hiking feels a lot more like \u201cgoing to a place where you\u2019re going for a long time where you get hot walking\u201d than a scenic exercise experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you ever feel like that? I do. We, God\u2019s little children, can so easily walk through this life focused on our weaknesses, on our discomforts, on the so-hot sun and the so-long feeling journey. Like a child on a lengthy, sweaty, boring hike, we might echo the psalmist David, \u201cHow long, LORD?\u201d (Psalm 13:1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Revelation 6, we read about the worst things in this world: war and death and hunger. And when the fifth seal was opened, we hear the martyrs crying out from under the altar, \u201cLord…how long…?\u201d (Revelation 6:10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then, in Revelation 7, we get a peek at what\u2019s coming soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No more hunger. No more thirst. No more scorching heat. God will wipe away every tear\u2014the ones we cried at home, in hospitals, and at grave-sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that\u2019s not just a fingers-crossed hope. Ephesians 1 says we have the Holy Spirit as a seal. We have a real promise from the God who always keeps His Word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So while we hike, we do it with a Shepherd. And while it is long, He is leading us. Jesus is comforting us and even carrying us during this hard hot walk, to a place of peace and rest and everlasting hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cWhat is hiking?\u201d \u2014Joy (my middle daughter, seven) \u201cGoing to a place where you\u2019re going for a long time where you get hot walking.\u201d \u2014Dewy (my youngest daughter, five) I have had that conversation saved in a phone note for the past five years. So adorable. So hilarious, listening to my children explain life to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":72742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[306],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-revelation2025"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[72906],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"HOW LONG, O LORD?<\/b>
\r\nby Scarlet Hiltibidal<\/i>
\r\n
\u201cWhat is hiking?\u201d \u2014Joy (my middle daughter, seven)<\/p>
\r\n
\u201cGoing to a place where you\u2019re going for a long time where you get hot walking.\u201d \u2014Dewy (my youngest daughter, five)<\/p>
\r\n
I have had that conversation saved in a phone note for the past five years. So adorable. So hilarious, listening to my children explain life to each other. But my then-five-year-old wasn\u2019t trying to be funny. She was experiencing hiking for the first time as a three-foot human, who felt way more of the discomfort and strain of hiking and way less of the \u201coh, look at the beautiful rocks and sky\u201d of it all. When you\u2019re little and weak and the sun is scorching and you could really use a snack and a Capri Sun, hiking feels a lot more like \u201cgoing to a place where you\u2019re going for a long time where you get hot walking\u201d than a scenic exercise experience.<\/p>
\r\n
Do you ever feel like that? I do. We, God\u2019s little children, can so easily walk through this life focused on our weaknesses, on our discomforts, on the so-hot sun and the so-long feeling journey. Like a child on a lengthy, sweaty, boring hike, we might echo the psalmist David, \u201cHow long, LORD?\u201d (Psalm 13:1).<\/p>
\r\n
In Revelation 6, we read about the worst things in this world: war and death and hunger. And when the fifth seal was opened, we hear the martyrs crying out from under the altar, \u201cLord...how long...?\u201d (Revelation 6:10).<\/p>
\r\n
And then, in Revelation 7, we get a peek at what\u2019s coming soon.<\/p>
\r\n
No more hunger. No more thirst. No more scorching heat. God will wipe away every tear\u2014the ones we cried at home, in hospitals, and at grave-sides.<\/p>
\r\n
And that\u2019s not just a fingers-crossed hope. Ephesians 1 says we have the Holy Spirit as a seal. We have a real promise from the God who always keeps His Word.<\/p>
\r\n
So while we hike, we do it with a Shepherd. And while it is long, He is leading us. Jesus is comforting us and even carrying us during this hard hot walk, to a place of peace and rest and everlasting hope.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"4","scripture":"Revelation 6:1-17, Revelation 7:1-17, Psalm 13:1-6, Ephesians 1:11-14","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}