When Feeling Weak/Live It!

The condition of mankind is hardship.
Battling the day-to-day is difficult enough. But throw in the (hopefully) occasional emergency and it really saps your strength.

I've heard it said that Christianity is a "crutch" for people who can't handle life. (Spoken like someone who hasn't hit one of life's train wrecks.) I'm no hero. Give me the crutch. Heck, give me a body cast.

I need strength when I'm weak. God is the source of strength. The question is how to appropriate it?

Throughout the Bible, there are examples when both individuals and entire nations needed strength, and God provided. The leaders of the times taught the people, even admonished them, to seek strength from God. Here's a list of ways they said strength can be found:

• When we celebrate God, He fills us with joy, which gives us strength (Nehemiah 8:10).
• When we recognize God's protection in our lives, it gives us confidence to face whatever comes (Psalm 18:1-2; 28:7; 46:1).
• When we feel God's presence, we know He is there with his strength (Psalm 73:26).
• When we put our hope in God alone, He shows his strength to us (Isaiah 40:30-31).
• When we ask for the strength provided by the Holy Spirit, God gives us the same power that raised Jesus from the dead (Ephesians 3:16-19).
• When we remember the glorious inheritance that God has already secured for those in Christ, we are strengthened (Colossians 1:11-12).

The key is, we have to remember where strength comes from. Then we have to appropriate that strength by acknowledging its source and by accepting its reality for our lives. Unbelief is a show stopper.

I often look back on my life and remember times when God protected me, and times when he provided a way out of trouble. I also remember friends who have shared their stories of deliverance. It confirms the reality of God's presence and of His strength and of His willingness to share with me.

Take it to heart. And be strong.

When Feeling Weak/Go Deep

There were many times King David needed strength.
As a teen, he faced the giant Goliath with just a sling and some stones.
As a young man, he ran for his life from the jealous King Saul.
Later in life, he saw his kingdom torn from him by his own son, and he ran (again) for his life.

Because David was a "man after God's own heart," he knew where to find strength.

At the end of his life, when his throne had been restored to him and he was at peace with his enemies, and he was crowning his son Solomon as the king to replace him, David addressed God in public prayer:

"Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours." (I Chronicles 29:11)

First, David acknowledged that strength is inherently with God. As Creator, everything is His. As the Sustainer of Life, it is His power that holds it all together. If you want strength, go to the source of power that surpasses what we can even imagine.

David continued:
"In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all." (I Chronicles 29:12)

David also recognized that God is willing and able to give strength to anyone. We (I) trek through many of life's trials and struggles never seeking out God, and never asking him for the strength to endure or to overcome or to be delivered.

Why is that? Perhaps pride, trying to work things out in my own strength. Maybe a lack of faith, as in "what if I ask and nothing happens?"

Knowing God as the source of strength and as a willing, gracious giver of strength is just the first step. It doesn't do any good if you don't appropriate what God has to offer.

When Feeling Weak/Think About It

I'm weak.
More so recently (I've realized) than in a long time.

Before going further, let me clarify. I'm not talking about physical weakness (although you could probably pick any date in the past 50 years and I was in better shape then than now). I'm thinking in terms of emotional stamina, maybe spiritual strength.

My wife has been battling a physical infirmity for a long time. In a week, in fact, it will be three years since her original injury. In the years since, there have been struggles, rehabilitation, set-backs, an additional surgery, physical therapy, lots of stress, and complications that now cause her to be in pain 24/7.

The impact is accumulative over time. There's a weariness that sets in after such a long span of struggling against an enemy like injury or illness. Just today, I realized it comes down to a matter of strength. It's strength I lack. It's strength I need.

Have you ever found yourself in that place? In that place of weakness--whether caused by an accident or injury, a prolonged illness, or a professional or personal disappointment?

I've been weakened:

• By the power of an enemy that has the ability to so negatively impact my world;
• By the persistance of that enemy;
• By discouragement when I consider my own inability to change the circumstances that dominate my wife's life;
• By the fear of wondering what if things never get better.

I need my strength renewed. There is a place I go when I'm in need. And I found encouragement that strength is within reach. The Bible tells the story of the people of God, a tale of recurring suffering. Yet the promise of scripture is that strength is available for those who believe.

This week, we'll take a look at those promises--for you and for me.