Wednesday, January 27, 2010

God will Strengthen me!!

There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God. Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. The LORD killeth and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up. The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and he hath set the world upon them. He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed. 1 Samuel 2:2-10

In revival last night, Dr. Goetsch quoted this whole passage from memory. He didn't give the reference, so I looked up the word "strength" in my concordance. Turns out, God has a lot to say about strength. Physical strength... what I am working so hard at getting. He says it in the passage above..."and they that stumble are girded with STRENGTH". He will give me strength. He also says in the passage above, "for by strength shall no man prevail". At first I thought, "What does that mean? He just said he would give strength to those that stumble." Then through reading it more, I realized that he said, "by strength shall no man prevail." What does prevail mean? I looked it up, it means: 1. to gain ascendancy through strength or superiority :
2 : to be or become effective or effectual. Then I looked up ascendancy, and it means influence. So God is saying, even if you are super strong, that won't prosper you, make you successful, make you influential. Just like Sampson. He was super duper strong. He killed thousands of men all by himself. Then comes Deliah and seduces him to tell her why he is so strong, and after a few lies, he ends up telling her, if his head was shaved he wouldn't be strong any more. She then told the Philistines, shaved his head and they kidnapped him. He could not do anything, he was weak. His hair began to grow back though, and he began to get his strength back. The Philistines began to use him as a show. Right before they were going to begin the show, Sampson prayed to God. Judges 16:28 "And Sampson called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and STRENGTHEN me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes." vs 29, "And Sampson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood. " verse 30, "let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life." He died that day, along with all the people there to watch the show. God strengthened him. The point I am trying to make is God has to be the source of our strength or it does not matter. Sampson betrayed God by telling Delilah where his strength was.
Proverbs 31, the virtuous women. Verse 17, "She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms." In a class I took in Bible college, the teacher said this was talking about her being strong physically. He said she works out and takes care of her body. She must be strong since in verse 16 it says she plants a whole vineyard with her own hands.
This was a good bible study for me. I am always finding myself failing because I am trying to find strength in myself instead of God.

2 comments:

Weightless said...

Remember that God talks about strength it's not always physical,it can be mental strength to avoid temptation (or sin).

I love how I feel when I get something that speaks to me. Thanks for sharing.

Adrienne said...

Of course, God gives us strength in every area. I need physical strength and spiritual strength!