by Wendy Wood
Psalm 28:7-8 “The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my son I give thanks to him. The Lord is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed.”
Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
Exodus 15:2 “The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”
Psalm 118:14 “The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.”
“I’m too tired.”
“I’m can’t do it.”
“I’m not the right person for this job.”
When we look at our circumstances and the tasks set before us, excuses leap to mind. It is easy to look at ourselves, our weakness, our failings, our lack of knowledge, gifts, talents, or energy and not even try. We get caught up in not wanting to fail, that we never even take the first step toward accomplishing anything.
Moses keeps us in good company. When God approached Moses in the form of the burning bush, and called Moses to go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses tried all kinds of excuses.
Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? (Exodus 3:11)
If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me “What is his name?” what shall I say to them? (Exodus 3:13)
But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, “The Lord did not appear to you.” (Exodus 4:1)
Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and tongue.” (Exodus 4:10)
Oh my Lord, please send someone else. (Exodus 4:13)
Moses list of excuses, fearing his own lack of strength and ability, sound a lot like ours. Essentially he says,
I’m not the right person.
I won’t know what to say.
I won’t be believed.
I’m not a good speaker.
I’m just don’t want to do it.
To each excuse God has a response.
I will be with you. (Exodus 3:12)
I AM who I AM. (Exodus 3:14)
The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?... Throw it on the ground… and it became a serpent… Put out your hand and catch it by the tail… and it became a staff in his hand.. That they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers… has appeared to you. (Exodus 4:3-5)
Who made man’s mouth? (Exodus 4:11)
And then the Lord sends Aaron to help Moses speak. (Exodus 4:14)
We have good reason to doubt our own strength. Scripture tells us that we are like a mist that appears for a short time and then vanishes. Scripture tells us that we are like grasshoppers in comparison to the greatness of God. Scriptures reminds us that we are dust. We are jars of clay. The pictures used to describe humans are frail and small. First Corinthians 4:7 reminds us that God has given us every talent, gift, strength, and weakness that we have. “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” God knows the strength, or lack of it, that we have because he has apportioned it to us. The question is, do you rely on your own strength, or on God’s?
God is strength for the weary.
Following Christ is hard. It is easy for us to get overwhelmed with life. It’s easy to get discouraged in our circumstances and allow our eyes to focus on our problems rather than on Christ. At times we run to God in his word and in prayer, but at times we shuffle toward him or collapse in the exhaustion of waiting for an answer or from the pain of trials and suffering. But God is our strength! God never gets tired! God never has less energy or less power. God doesn’t “use up” his strength as he continually works to sustain all life every moment of every day. He never has more strength or less strength. He doesn’t need to sleep and “recharge his batteries”. He never needs solitude and quiet to renew his strength. He never changes! His strength is perfect at all times!
Isaiah 40:28-31 “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
There is no need to fear that we won’t be able to finish the race with Christ. We run with perseverance because He is our strength. God does not call us to follow him and then leave us on our own to keep up with him and sustain ourselves. God is our strength!
God is strength for the weak.
We associate weakness with wimpiness. We think of weakness as one of the worst possible traits a person can have. Self-sufficiency is prized and strived for. However, we all know we are weak. And that’s a good thing!
Paul goes through a long list of strength in 2 Corinthians 11. He gives his pedigree as a sign of his strength. He is a Hebrew, an Israelites, an offspring of Abraham, a better servant of Christ, his labors are greater, his sufferers have been worse, his imprisonments have been longer. He lists things that should be considered strength to society. Paul has the background and the proven track record of strength in enduring terrible circumstances. Yet instead of boasting of his accomplishments, he boasts of God’s strength that has been the force behind every single thing he has done.
“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)
Paul knew his own weakness. He knew he wouldn’t be able to preach God’s word faithfully and endure hardship in a God-honoring way without God’s strength. He boasted of his own weakness, knowing that God alone was the strength that helped him endure.
You will miss out on God’s strength if you always stay within your comfort zone. God’s strength shines in weakness, when we step outside of our own ability, and have to trust God in a new or scary experience, we see at work. If we continue in old habitual responses, or stay close to what we are sure will go easy and smoothly for us, we fail to rely on God’s strength.
God is our strength. When you think you can’t possible respond well to a hurtful spouse, God is your strength. When your teenagers have rebelled and you want to run and hide, God is your strength. When you are asked to do an assignment that you think is too big or too scary, God is your strength. When 1 Corinthians 13:10 promises that there is a way out of temptation, God is saying that he is the strength behind finding the way out of your circumstance that pleases him. We don’t do anything of eternal value in our own strength. We rely on God to work through us.
God gives us the spirit of power. “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:6-7). This spirit of power is the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead and now dwells in you (Romans 8:11). Jesus himself said “I can do nothing on my own.” Christ also was dependent on the power of God to accomplish the will of God. God delights to give his children the power to glorify his name. Whenever we respond in denying ourselves, the strength of God enables it, which is why it is pleasing to God. When you are tempted to a sinful response, but stop and trust God and his promises, you display the strength of God.
Questions to Consider:
When was the last time you took a risk for God? Maybe you shared the gospel even though your heart was pounding? Maybe you choose to ask for forgiveness first even though the other person had sinned too. Maybe you chose to respond kindly to a harsh word trusting God’s promise to experience peace and rest for your soul when you seek to please him.
If you can’t remember the last time you did something that required God’s strength, what will you do now?