“…strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith…” Ephesians 3:17)
In one of the great passages of Scripture which speaks of God giving strength to those who have no strength, we read in Isaiah that God “…giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.” (40:29) Isaiah goes on to describe to what extent the Lord comes to meet the need of the heart. He again writes, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.” (v.31) What do we discover here about the promises of God concerning strength? And to whom do these promises belong in particular?
The first thing we see is that God alone is the giver of strength, and power. From the very birth of a child to the last ebb of strength before passing into His presence, God is the one who gives strength that is necessary, and measured for the moment, and the need. It was Annie J. Flint who wrote these two stanzas of a hymn: “When we have exhausted our store of endurance, When strength has declined ere the day is half-done, When we reach the end of our hoarded resources, Our Father’s full giving is only begun.” She continues by writing: “His love has no limit, His grace has no measure, His power no boundary known unto men, For out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth and giveth and giveth again.” What is it that Mrs. Flint discovered about the power and strength that God gives? It is that it is an act of grace, a measure of His goodness, and a certainty of its sufficiency.
What then are the conditions for knowing, and receiving the strength of God? Once there is the firm belief that God alone is the ultimate source of all strength, there must be the conviction of one’s need, not only the realization that one does not have the capacity to face the issues that life can hurl at the soul, but that there is the very real possibility, and certainty, that God, the maker of us all, and His Son, our Savior, can and will meet us in the place and time of our need. Again, Mrs. Flint comes to our aid to understand the conditions in which the grace of God is revealed, and His strength given. She writes: “He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater, He sendeth more strength when the labors increase, To added affliction He addeth His mercy, To multiplied trials His multiplied peace.” When Isaiah wrote that God pours water on the thirsty soul, and floods on the dry ground, he was speaking of the same conditions of the soul that are necessary to receive th grace of God, revealed by His strength being given. When Jesus spoke in the Sermon on the Mount concerning “…hungering and thirsting after righteousness,” and later addressing the crowds by saying, “If any man is thirsty, let him come unto me and drink,” He was addressing the conditions of the soul and heart that must be known and realized in order to seek God, draw near to Him, and with mouth wide open, to receive from Him His blessing, His strength, and His power. In other words, one’s helplessness, the consciousness and conviction of it, is essential if one will come with the whole heart, to place one’s whole trust in God.
There is a strength that God gives that is physical. Such was the case with Elijah, who after winning a monumental battle over the powers of darkness at Carmel, overcoming all of the prophets of Baal, was completely exhausted. He needed sleep, bread and water. God gave this to him. God gave to Jonathan, the son of Saul, in the midst of battle, honey that revived his strength. However, God gives His strength to appropriate the indwelling Christ for every need.
Dear Father, Strengthen us continuously today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.