Strength will rise as we wait.
http://bible.com/59/isa.40.29-31.esv
I recently heard an ex-SAS man say something that made me think. Bearing in mind, this is a man who has been there and done it, bought the T-shirt. He has run mile after mile, endured pain and been pushed to the limit and then some. When asked about what makes a man able to make it into the SAS, he said someone who never quits and knows when they are weak.
He said this on a show that is putting ordinary guys (civilians) through what some would describe as the most challenging job interview ever to get into the SAS. With their shiny gym memberships, Lycra-clad mountain biking gear, marathon training and Tough Mudder weekends, today I know some people measure their fitness and how tough they are through. It quickly became apparent to see how little this counted for absolutely NOTHING in the face of a heavy backpack, the Brecon Beacons, a posh bloke giving some hard stares and a Scottish guy shouting at the top of his lungs, "Do you give up?"
They are trying to strip away a facade, an image that the guys project that makes them look better than they are.
This reminded me of this scripture verse
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He gives power to the faint.
To him who has no might, He increases STRENGTH.
I am so glad I don't have to pretend I have it all figured out, that I have all the answers or that I am some kind of superman. What I need to know more and more is that when I am weak, I am strong.
I know many people who are weary and exhausted in life, and there is hope for you. You see, not only does and can He increase our strength, but He renews our strength. As we come before Him in his presence on His terms, a divine transaction occurs. He replaces our puny, feeble strength with his divine strength.
I don't want a tiny god for the good times; I want a big one for times when I have no strength.
If I were to walk into a chemist with a prescription and hand it in, the chemist would give me what is prescribed to me, there and then. Sometimes the danger is to think today that God somehow dishes out strength and encouragement the same way, NO. Do you know what He does? He gives us himself. That is so much better.
Paul was on a ship bound to sink, but he could stand before the rest of the crew and say, "This night, the Lord stood by me". Three Hebrew men were faced with the fiery furnace, and they stood before it and said, "Our God whom we serve is able", and the Lord stood by them in the fire. Job was asking why is this happening to me, God? Did God answer NO! but what He did do was give Job a more profound revelation of who He was and is so that Job could say, "Though He slays me, yet will I trust Him!"
However, it takes us to do something WAIT. That's the tricky bit. When I am waiting for something, I don't feel in control, which is the point sometimes. I need to know he is in control, that his hand is on the thermostat, that is he is sovereign and over all.
One of the ways I can wait on him is in my worship. The word worship in the Old Testament means to bow before. It's the idea of actually pressing your forehead right to the ground. In other words, I come to him acknowledging He is who He says He is. I praise Him that if He never does another thing for me again, He has already done enough. That is, He is more than enough.
Sometimes I am guilty of trying to figure it out, putting on a face that I am strong when I am weak, and He is strong. I need to return to that place of surrender and submission and just wait on him, believing that STRENGTH will rise as we wait upon the Lord.
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