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And He will establish you to the end; keep you steadfast, give you strength, and guarantee your vindication. [1 Corinthians 1:8] [amp version] God is good, and He is good to you always. And, even in your time of brokenness, it can be your ever abiding testimony, for His grace abounds towards you always and forever. And it is He, who is going to keep you strong and steadfast all through your life, every step of the way. Therefore, even in your stormy circumstance that threatens to overwhelm you, your focus needs to be upon the Lord God in order to remain unshaken, and not succumb to fear that can paralyze and cripple, to eventually drown you.
‘Our eyes are upon You …’
‘We have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us, nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You’. [2 Chronicles 20:20] Battles will come in life, but like the godly king Jehoshaphat, you can choose to look in the right direction, look unto the Lord for wisdom and strength. Wisdom from the Lord, will show you what you need to do, however threatening the circumstance maybe, and what will empower you to do it, will be the strength that comes from Him. It is very natural and human to feel weak and become weary, in the middle of a struggle that seems to be long and unending. But, He will keep you strong, as you run your race, with your eyes fixed upon Him, the Lord Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith.
1.The Lord Himself is your strength:
He Himself is your strength, and therefore, He is perfectly able to keep you strong to the very end. It is in the experiential knowledge of it that the apostle Paul is able to say, ‘I know in whom I have believed; that He is able to guard what I have entrusted into His Hand, unto that Day’. And the Lord Himself has declared to His Father,’ And I have lost none of what has been entrusted into My hand..’ [John 18:9] Therefore you and I can be perfectly confident that we will never lose what we have given in sweet surrender into His hands of love. ‘My times are in your hands’, are the words of trust and faith, of the psalmist, and can be yours too. Your days are indeed safe in the hands of the Savior, every day of your life, all through your life’s journey. And, it is why, you need to cast all your cares upon Him, give all your burdens over to Him, for otherwise the weight of it all, would someday or the other begin to crush you, and bring you down. It is He, and He alone, who is now and forever, able to keep you from falling, from stumbling in your walk of faith, even as the apostle Jude has written. [Jude 24]
And, how does the Lord keep you?
The key is His word that comes to you, the word in season that keeps you from stumbling, even as you pay heed to His voice, to receive faith and the power to stand, and not fall. It is what the apostle Peter writes with clarity to say, Who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. [1 Peter 1:5] When you walk in faith, to be kept by God’s strength, and His power, it will not be about just managing your circumstance. He does not want you to be a manager of your situation! The Father, is a good God, who wants you to live your life each day, awaiting and experiencing the manifestation of His power, provision and protection in your life. The Lord keeps you, by giving you His strength, and by being your strength. It is the power within you, that comes through His word to you.
Strong this day, as on that day :
Caleb, as he stood before Moses, was all of eighty five years old, as he asked for his God given inheritance, that had come to him as a word from God, forty years earlier. But, he was able to declare in all honesty, that his strength remained the same, as on that eventful day, when God had spoken it to him. It was the truth on which he stood, to claim Hebron, his inheritance spoken to him by God. And now, here I am this day, eighty five years old, As yet I am as strong this day, as on the day that Moses sent me, just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke on that day… [Joshua 14:10-12]
What wondrous words of confidence and power !
And the strength in Caleb, old as he was, was not from a special diet! It was the promise of God that sustained and strengthened him through all the forty five years, for man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. [Deuteronomy 8:3] Therefore, however long it takes, for His promise to you to find it’s fulfillment, He will keep you strong. His strength will be made perfect in you, in your times of weakness, when doubt, fear or weariness arises, in the path that leads to your experience of it.
2. The Lord Himself walks with you :
It is how you are kept steadfast and firm to the end, when you have been made righteous in Christ. For, The whole earth may shake, as the psalmist describes, but the righteous is never shaken, for God remains unshaken forever. For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed, But My steadfast love shall not depart from you, And My covenant of peace shall not be removed’ says the Lord who has compassion on you. [Isaiah 54:10] And, His compassion is more than sympathy and empathy; it acts to bring a solution in your situation to keep you strong and steadfast to the end. His grace and mercy is always with you and upon you, to strengthen you. It is very beautifully exemplified, in the life of Gideon, in his encounter with God Almighty, that called him to a high destiny, far removed from threshing wheat, hiding in a wine press!
He was called by God to lead His chosen people, to be shown the path that he needed to take. And though he was riddled with fear and thoughts of inability and lack, God’s word to him that countered it all was crystal clear, to say, ‘Go, in the strength you have, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?’ [Judges 6:14] This assurance from God ought to have been enough, but it was not so for Gideon, who was still plagued by doubts and self pity. [vs 15] And it can so often be the same in your life and mine too, when the call of God seems to be too stupendous and far beyond what we perceive to be our limit.
But we serve a wonderful God, who stoops in love, to strengthen and reassure you and I, just as He gave courage to Gideon, And the Lord said to him, ‘Surely, I shall be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man’. [vs 16] In your place of difficulty, He is there with you, to lift you out of it. He leads you in green pastures, and more importantly He walks alongside you. It was how He restored the courage of the two disciples who were trudging wearily on the road to Emmaus, thinking that all was lost, and had come to an end with the Lord’s crucifixion. He joined them in their walk, matched their pace as they walked along, to resolve their weariness, by giving them a right understanding of the truth of the scriptures. [Luke 24:14-35] And at the end of it all, their hearts that were like a dimly burning wick, were in their own words, as they described their wondrous experience to the other disciples, burning like fire!
Even this day, His ever abiding promise to you and I is, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you’. In your troubling circumstance He is with you, and speaks to you through His word. And in the light of His word, and in His strength, you will certainly reach the place where God wants you to be. He is there with you. But it is when you are able to live in the awareness of His presence with you, however depressing your life may outwardly appear to be, that success can enter into your life. Joseph, as we read in the scriptures, was not in a very promising occupation initially, and later it worsened further. For, he was sent to prison, and for no fault of his. But the Lord was with him, as He always is and was, even with you, this day. He is an unchanging God. The game changer though, was Joseph’s awareness of it, even as the word of God refined him. And it saw him walk into his glorious destiny, as the wisdom of God upon him, one that even the pharaoh recognized, led him to a position that was second only to the ruler of Egypt, the most powerful nation of the then world. [Genesis chapter 37&41]
‘I did not know it!’ :
But, the ground reality sometimes, is that, in the midst of a seemingly insurmountable problem, one can fail to become aware of God, who as the psalmist says, is your ever present Helper in trouble. It was the experience in the life of the patriarch Jacob, as wearied in his soul he slept, resting his head upon a stone. And the miraculous vision of God that came then to him, saw him waking up at dawn to say, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it’. [Genesis 28:16] The lesson it speaks into your heart and mine, is the need for spending time in hearing and meditating upon God’s word, day and night. For, it is then that you will know that He is near, and hear His voice that counsels and equips you.
HIS grace – your support! :
For, life’s testing trials are inevitable, and are part and parcel of the packaging, as you live in a fallen world. They come to pull you down, and make you fall in your walk of faith. But then, you are the Father’s child ! He is with you, holding you in His grip, that is much stronger than your hand holding His. So you can confidently declare like the psalmist, in the midst of storms that come to lash against you, that you will not be overcome by it all. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; My feet had nearly slipped.. Nevertheless I am continually with you, You hold me by my right hand. [Psalm 73:2,23] And His mercy and grace, unending and overflowing, will always be your support, holding you up, to stand, and stand upright! [Psalm 94:18] In life’s slippery paths, He comes alongside you, to strengthen you.
HIS own hand over yours – to strengthen :
It is how God keeps you strong, and steadfast to the end. And, it is beautifully captured in an incident that is described in God’s word, where the prophet Elisha, weak though he was at that point of time, nevertheless, was used by God in a mighty way, to strengthen the king of Israel, who had to face a mighty Syrian army and was filled with fear. Elisha strengthened the king, in a manner so wondrously personal, reflecting the heart of the God who walks with you, to strengthen you. It is a hands on experience of His strength and power that He imparts to you ! The scriptural narrative explains it as nothing else can, bringing to your mind’s eye, what the Lord is doing and will continue to do in your life, to keep you strong, till the very end. And Elisha said to the king of Israel, ‘Take a bow and some arrows’. So he took himself a bow and some arrows. Then he said to the king, ‘Put your hand on the bow’. So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the kings hands. [2 kings 13:15,16]
And it is what the Lord is doing, in your life today. As you stretch forth your hand to do what He has called you to do, His hand, comes upon your hand, to make you strong and firm in accomplishing your task. Whatever you do therefore, will prosper, because the Hand of the One who prospers is upon you. And all that needs to come into your hand, will certainly come to you in the coming days of your life The key lies in knowing and being aware of His presence that abides continually with you. Nehemiah succeeded in a supernatural task, for he knew that the good hand of the Lord was upon him. And, out the fullness of the heart, came forth his confession of faith, his clarion call that awakened the people out of their apathy as he said to them, ‘The God of heaven, Himself, will prosper us; and therefore, we His servants will rise up and build’. [Nehemiah 2:20] For, as the psalmist has said, unless the Lord builds the house, the builders, they labor in vain.
The arrow of victory :
And, it was the arrow of victory, that came from the hand of the king on that day, for the prophet’s hand came upon his, to strengthen and steady him, not letting him fall into an inglorious defeat. God holds your hand too, even as you hold the hand of a little one, or an elderly person in order to keep them steady, that they may not slip and fall.
Arrows – in the hand of the warrior :
It is your children, that the word of God says who are your heritage, and are compared to arrows, in the hand of a warrior. [Psalm 127:3,4] Taught by the Lord, they are the olive shoots around your table. And you, as a child of God Himself, will be made as a polished arrow.
Arrow – polished for God to be glorified :
In the shadow of His hand He has hidden me; And made me as a polished arrow; In His quiver He has hidden me. And He said to me, ‘You are my servant Israel, in whom I will be glorified’. [Isaiah 49:2,3] It is your glorious destiny; that you may be His servant, displaying His glory; a polished arrow hidden in His hand.
3. The Lord guarantees your vindication :
Revenge is sweet to the vast majority of the people around you. You live in a world that is vengeful and harsh, and seeming injustice. But, vengeance belongs to God. It is the unassailable truth. And therefore, in a vindictive world you have a vindicating God! He will give you strength, and also guarantees your vindication. [1 Corinthians 1:8] It is how the Father keeps you strong. Trusting in man, who is here today, and gone tomorrow, is never the solution. But you have Judge. And if not now, there is going to be a Judgement Day, where He will establish justice, that none can overturn, and will prove your innocence, to vindicate you. Thus, putting it all together, as God strengthens you, as He keeps you steadfast and firm, as He guarantees your vindication, the big picture that emerges through it all, is the truth that goes to bring peace in your heart, a wholeness in you and completeness in Christ, until the very end. For,
4. The Lord Himself will settle you :
It is the wonderful promise of God that comes to you, this day, not just for this month, but for all the days of your life. He Himself will make all that needs to happen in your life take place. He will settle you. And, why is it so ? You have a God who is steadfast, and when He is with you, no labor that you undertake in the Lord, will be in vain. You will never be sent away empty handed, without any reward or payment for the work that you have done, your sincere and genuine efforts in serving the Lord, in His Kingdom, or in the marketplace. Jacob experienced it in his life, as he served under a very crafty and manipulative Laban, who also to make things more complex, happened to be his father in law! And these were the words of Jacob, as he left Laban, taking with him, his own family, flock and possessions, ‘Thus I have been in your house twenty years…you have changed my wages ten times. Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the Fear of Isaac had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty -handed. God has seen my affliction, and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night’. [Genesis 31:41,42]
Jacob, as his very name implies, was a deceiver. But God had mercy on him, to say that He would never leave him until He did, what He had promised. God is gracious towards, even the one who is imperfect and stained, and then again, it also has to be said that, there is none righteous in His sight, for all we like sheep have strayed away. And, it is the realization and acknowledgement of one’s own poverty, or spiritual bankruptcy, or depravity within, that opens up to you, the abundance and righteousness of the kingdom of heaven, in and through Christ, when you receive Him as your Savior and Lord.
HE settles you- as He Himself plants you :
Moreover I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more; nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore, as previously. [2 Samuel 7:10] In your life, there will be no more wandering around from place to place, because of others oppressing you and treating you unjustly. Let this wondrous word of the Lord to you, refresh and revive you. He will miraculously lead you in paths of righteousness, to the place that He Himself has appointed, the place where He wants you to be, that your cup may overflow. You will not be empty handed.
Even as the king Jehoshaphat prayed, may your focus therefore, be upon God Almighty, your Jehovah Jireh, who has wonderfully provided all that you will ever need in your life on the Cross of Calvary, and will take care of all that concerns you, both big and small. He Himself will bring to completion, all that He has begun in your life, until the day of Christ Jesus, and keep you strong and firm, until the very end. You have a future and a hope; and your hope will not be cut off. You will not be shaken, for your feet are firmly planted on solid Rock. Christ in you, is your hope of glory.
‘Forever grateful’ :
May this be the joyous cry of your heart therefore, one that is lifted up to the Lord in thanksgiving, for He is the guarantee of your blessing, and vindication, and will keep you strong, not just this month, but through all the days of your life. May His Kingdom come, and may His will, one that is good and pleasurable be done in your life. May His grace crown you with His goodness, and may His blessing be upon you and reign in you, bringing glory and honour unto the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.
In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
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