Starting blocks everyone!

Scott Harman July 27, 2026 3 2

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Habakkuk 2: 1-3 (NIV-UK)

1 I will stand at my watch
    and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me,
    and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

2 Then the Lord replied:

“Write down the revelation
    and make it plain on tablets
    so that a herald may run with it.
3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
    it speaks of the end
    and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
    it[c] will certainly come
    and will not delay.

Pheidippides was an ancient Athenian courier.  It was said that he could cover 250 Kilometers in one day.  According to legend, when the Persians landed in Greece in 490 BC, Pheidippides was dispatched to alert all the other Greek city states of the invasion.  In one version of the story, at the conclusion of the Battle of Marathon Pheidippides ran back to Athens; a distance of about 25 miles. He announced, “Joy We Win!” and then promptly dropped dead.

Today we commemorate the story by attempting to run the distance from Marathon to Athens in a race we call the Marathon.  

We don’t lead with the concept that the first marathon runner 2,500 years ago dropped dead. But every marathon runner hopes to proclaim, “Joy, We Win,” at the end.  

Trust me it feels a little like death at the end. But the joy of the finish is unparallelled.  

“Write down the revelation
    and make it plain on tablets
    so that a herald may run with it.
For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
    it speaks of the end
    and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
    it will certainly come
    and will not delay.”

How often do our lives feel like this? We run, and work, and parent, and study, and it seems like the end will never come. We look out into the world around us, and forces are pressing in that we can’t control. Pandemics, politics, wars, etc.

But God promises that the revelation will come. It will come and not delay. And we will proclaim, “Joy We Win!”

Prayer:

Marantha, come quickly Lord Jesus. We are pressed on every side, but not crushed. We are tired, but we keep putting one foot in front of the other. We don’t know when this burden will subside, but we believe in you, and are encouraged by your word, that Joy is on the other side of that line.