Strength for today (Proverbs 24)
How are you tracking?
Feeling full of energy? Ready to take on the challenges of the world? Or.. maybe not? Today’s Proverb from the 24th chapter at first glance seems a little harsh;
“If you falter in a time of trouble, how small is your strength!”
(Proverbs 24:10 NIV11)
Well, it’s true enough I suppose but not very hopeful. What if our times of trouble have been going for some time? What if we’re in year 3 of pandemic as the waves of different variants wash over us.
It’s easy enough to empty our own reserves of strength and perhaps many of us are at that point now as we roll through Omicron. If we’re alone in the world then this is indeed a dire proverb for us. But the Christian is never alone. Jesus’s final words in Matthew’s account of His life assure us, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
So we will never be alone. That’s good and comforting in its own right. But there’s more. The God who *is* with us is the same God who offers to provide us with more power than we currently have.
The surfer doesn’t seek to generate the waves – they learn to harness the power of the waves that are there to help them move forward. There’s no single human who can generate waves – but when they’re provided you can either bash into them or get up on the board and work with them.
This idea of surfing the power beyond us will turn us to the God who is infinitely powerful;
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
(Isaiah 40:28–31 NIV11)
So today if you’re feeling weak, if you’re feeling like, you can’t go on it’s never simply a matter of keep calm and carry on for the Christian. No, the Christian will pray that their God, who they love, who will always be with them, will indeed give them His grace and energy for all the good works He has prepared in advance for them to do.
We may get dunked a few times as we figure it out but it’s a skill you can master. Every Christian is invited to learn to turn to God and trust Him when we’re in the ocean of difficulty.
Now is a good time to stop and pray that prayer.
Grace and peace,
Stuart.
#newlifeisfoundhere #readingfornewlife #wisdom #Proverbs
