STRENGTH
FOR ALL SITUATIONS

Verse for Today: Sunday, October 10, 2010
Psalms 18:32 - It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.

The Psalmist speaks at one breath primarily about his God and then about himself as a beneficiary of this great God. His utterances about him are in relation to God only, as he confesses that left alone, he has no strength in him and that his ways are otherwise full of shortages and inadequacies. This realization is the greatest confession that any child of God would be able to make at any time. Man has no strength in himself even though in his egotistic mind, he would always think that he has capacity for a lot of things in this world. Man has a weak body and weak mind which are susceptible to failure at any time, with the smallest provocation by even a bacteria, virus or a small change in his environment. The bravest can easily be attacked by discouragement and fear. Left to himself, man has nothing to hold on to, even though he often depends on his physical strength, education, intellectual abilities, human skills, knowledge, possessions, positions, relationships and the like. But when confronted by difficult situations, he is proved to be powerless. Man always finds himself in shortages, failures, inadequacies and futilities of various kind, but would like to brag about his sufficiency that he finds in what he has. But without God, there is no sufficiency in or for man. He would have once upon a time handled Goliaths singlehandedly, but that was also because God worked in and through him. If the lions shut their mouths, it was because the Lord shut the mouths of the lions. If the ravens fed him, it was because the Lord sent the ravens with food. If there was rain and good harvest, it was only because the Lord sent showers of blessings. When man comes to this realization, he would start depending on this Lord and live as strengthened by Him. This is the way the Lord takes glory through us.

Dear friend, are you feeling weak and heavy laden? Is there not some shortage or failure in your horizon? Are the situations you face far greater than you can handle in your own strength and ability? Even when you give advise and write songs for others, it seems you need someone to sing a song for you! Are you at your wits end and find no way to face the crisis that is cornering you? There is no need for you to be anxious about it. The God of David is with us to lead us through the dark valleys of life. There might be Goliaths and Sauls there and perhaps the Philistines and Hittites might also try to take advantage of your situation and try to suffocate you. But the Lord will come to you at the right time to give you strength in your body and soul. He will give you the right advise so as to enable you to do what He wants you to do at the right time. His Spirit will fortify you so that the fiery darts of the enemy will not penetrate you. He will garrison your heart to keep the fear of the situation away from you. He will fill your inadequacy with His sufficiency. He will fight your battles and wage your war for you. When the Lord thus enables you to fight the battles of life and go through seemingly impossible circumstances, you will be able to confess Him as your sole source of strength and that He clothes you with His strength at the right time to meet the realities of your life. He then becomes your sufficiency in all your inadequacies. Your ways are made perfect without faltering by His mighty hands. Your confession of the Lord will then be the channel through which He takes glory in your life and testimony. So let us gear up today with the strength of the Lord to keep fighting battles and march forward as the soldiers of the cross.

Psalms 27:1 - The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?

Thought for Today
God strengthens us for each situation according to His sufficiency.

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