The Strength That Changes Lives
The strength that can change our lives is not from one’s own supply or that of another or from anything the world promises. It has only one source, this strength is from the source of everything and everyone, it is from our God. We may wonder and ask, if this is so why has not God simply filled me up with all the strength and resources I need. We all need provisions and strength to get through a day, an illness, hard circumstances, and so we ask where is this strength?
Probably any who has lived and experienced hard times or walked with others through hard times realizes that we are broken, we are like cracked containers. If God had placed within us every good thing and strength to meet any circumstance, we would in one way, or another leak it out. If we had been given all we need inside of us, through our brokenness we may have used it unwisely, sold it to the highest bidder, trusted it to the wrong people. So, God has not done that, He has not chosen to provide all we need at once but instead to give to us each day, to give us the strength and sustenance needed for this day. Just as God provided for the Israelites manna for each day, and not the next day, He wants us to trust in His strength and provision for each day.
When the Israelites had left Egypt, they took with them provisions for the walk through the desert and some of those included water. But the provisions ran out, and soon relying on their own strength and resources would not sustain them. By the time they came to Rephidim, God had already provided water for them, but like the water their memory and faith was in short supply. In Exodus 17 we read that when the Israelites were led to Rephidim and found no water they had had it, and they questioned Moses and God. They were angry and said there is no water for us in this place you have brought us. Why have you brought us, our livestock, and our children to a place without water! They cried out to Moses and said is God with us or not? Like many of us we become angry and question God when we do not understand our difficult circumstances, and why He has brought them into our lives. And like the Israelites if we can meet our own needs in our own strength do we really look to God to do so. Do we really trust that God can and will do so? Despite all the miracles and divine strength, the people witnessed from God, they quickly forgot and did not trust and became angry and challenged God.
But if we follow their story, which is our story as well, we find that God was wanting to show them that He could and would provide in abundance for them, all they could not provide for themselves. And God told Moses, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink. When we fast forward to the New Testament, we find in 1 Corinthians 10:4 these words, “…and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the same spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.” Regardless, if you take these words literally or figuratively, it does not matter for these are words God wants us to know. The spiritual rock that followed them through the desert, was Christ and He follows us and is the source of provision and strength for all our needs.
There may be plenty of times when instead of trusting in God to provide for all our needs we doubt. At these times we must remember Romans 10:17 that our faith comes by hearing and hearing from the word of God. Our God that Ps 40:1 tells us, hears our cries. Our God who hears our cries and knows better than us all that we need is the rock that follows us to provide our strength and sustenance for every circumstance we encounter. This is our God, whose divine strength and ability to provide for and care for us through every aspect of our lives is following us closely, He hears our cries and knows all our needs. He wants us to know and trust that as with the Israelites His divine strength and provision is there for each of us. And through His word we can access His strength, wisdom, and the power to change our lives. Philippians 4:13 tells us that in His strength we can do all things. As we learn to depend on Him, as we learn to look to His word, His word that has power to change lives, His word that gives us our faith and strengthens it when we doubt, through God and His word we will find the strength and provision for all we need. When we learn this, our lives are forever changed.
Let me leave you with a true story about Abraham Lincoln and the strength He found in God’s word. In 1863 we find President Lincoln deeply distressed and in the midst of a broken torn apart and bloodied nation. Just a year prior Lincolns eleven-year-old son had died. Lincoln’s grief was deep, his strength was being desperately tested, and he picked up his bible and read. His seamstress, Elizabeth Keckley recounted this story in her memoirs. She said that after watching Lincoln read in his bible his dejected look was gone, and his countenance was lighted up with new resolution and hope. The change was so marked that she could not but wonder at it and wonder lead to the desire to know what book of the bible afforded so much comfort to the reader. Lincoln said, “in regard to this great book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the savior gave to the world was communicated through this book.”
God’s word has the power to impart to us His divine strength, the strength we need every day to face all circumstances. The strength we need to rise above our brokenness and be able to say with absolute faith that in Him we can do all things. God’s word sures up our faith in times of despair, doubt, and discouragement to let us know that our God who hears our cries will provide for us each day all we need. In God’s divine strength is the power to change lives.
