February 10: A Great Cloud of Witnesses

It’s hard to believe something could work for you. It’s easier to believe it worked for the person sitting next to you.

Hebrews chapter eleven lists men and women who trusted God: Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Rahab and many more. Some saw great victories. Some suffered terribly. All of them trusted that God was real and would keep His promises.

Then chapter twelve begins: since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let’s lay aside every weight and run the race set before us with endurance.

The picture is of a stadium. The runners on the track are surrounded by people who already ran. Their lives are proof that the race can be finished.

That’s a good picture of a recovery meeting.

When you come to believe in Step Two, a lot of that belief comes through other people. You may not be able to see God directly. But you can see the man across the room who used to drink a fifth a day and now has fifteen years sober. You can hear the woman who lost custody of her kids and now has them back. You can watch the guy with ninety days who looks completely different from how he did on day one.

Those people are witnesses. Not in the courtroom sense, but in the sense that they’ve seen something and can tell you about it. Many of them will say plainly that their own willpower didn’t do it. Something greater did.

That’s evidence. Maybe not the kind that would satisfy a scientist, but the kind that’s hard to argue with when you’re sitting three feet away from it.

Notice also what the verse says to do: lay aside every weight. Some weights are obvious, like the bottle. Others are quieter: the resentments, the isolation, the shame. Witnesses can help you see which weights you’re still carrying.

One thing today

Go to a meeting this week and listen for one story that sounds like yours. Afterward, thank that person and ask how they came to believe.

A prayer

God, it’s hard for me to believe this can work for me. Thank You for the people who’ve gone ahead. Let their lives give me hope, and help me run.

This is the heart of Step Two.

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