July 13, 2023
"For you are the God of my strength..." (Psalm 43:2a)
Years ago, I found myself deathly sick during a weekend. I had an important and intense message that I needed to preach on Sunday morning in two services. I was up all night Saturday night, and I thought multiple times about calling some of the other men to preach for me, but the Lord wouldn't release me to call them.
I got to church and pulled into a side office to pray. "Lord," I said, "I don't think I can do this. I have absolutely no strength." The Holy Spirit whispered to me in my heart, as only He can with these words, "Who said this is about your strength?" He then brought to mind multiple Scriptures reminding me that the LORD is our strength. And "My (God's) power is made perfect (brought to fullness) in your weakness."
I turned in faith and asked the Lord to fill me with His strength. He did. I preached with great energy … and then collapsed in the recliner at about 2 pm! Guess who had to receive all the glory for that wonderful help?
MY WEAKNESS = HIS STRENGTH
I’ve had multiple debilitating physical problems in the last few years. Each of them has found me despairing at first until I realized that everything that comes my way is filtered through the sovereign hand of my loving Father. And that He has promised to manifest His strength in my weakness. Over and over again—often daily—I am asking The-God-Who-Is-Strength to fill me, rise up in me, and literally BE my strength. And He never fails.
It’s as if the Lord is allowing these problems to keep me close and ever dependent upon Him. For without Him, I have very little physical and emotional strength. But through Him, there is an inexhaustible supply.
YOUR STRENGTH
When you are weak, do you quit? Do you wallow in despair and self-pity? Do you resign yourself to a second-best effort? Do you try to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps? Or do you, like David, dependently pray, "For YOU are the God of my strength!"
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