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Grace takes you from where you are to where God wants you to be in your life.
The Everlasting God, who never grows faint or weary, increases your power and strength to lift you up in your walk with Him. It is His promise to you; and it is written that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. He gives power to the weak; and to those who have no might, He increases strength. [Isaiah 40:29]
He will strengthen and empower you, in your times of weakness that you may overcome, and reign in life.
The two aspects of weakness that can come up in any person are –
a) Discouragement in the soul
b) Physical weakness
The feeling of discouragement:
God addresses the reason for discouragement, as He puts forward these questions, not just to Jacob or Israel, but to every child of God – Why do you say, O Jacob ? And speak, O Israel, My way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God ? [Isaiah 40:27]
It may be your situation today, the thought that is running through your mind that God does not understand your problem, and you are not a priority in His eyes. But every suffering has a foundational aspect to it that Christ the compassionate Great High Priest has gone through and overcome that in Him you too may overcome.
He knows what you are going through; He understands your pain; He listens to your every prayer. God has no partiality or priorities in hearing His children’s prayer. It is all about personal relationship. When you are born again of the Spirit, and become His child, He will surely answer your prayer in due time. To every person who is feeling discouraged, and it may be you today, who is feeling frustrated on seeing no visible sign of an answer, God is saying ‘I am going to give you power and increase your strength’. God is not ignoring you.
When people ignore you –
It can indeed be very painful when you are at the receiving end of it, especially when it happens within your close circle of relationships at home, at work or in your social network. In the scriptures we see David and Joseph going through such lowering and painful experiences, until God lifted them up.
When ignored, a person feels insulted and rejected. It leads to a feeling of inferiority, a downturn of the soul that can very easily lead to infirmity, a depleting of physical strength and weakness. But, when you are His child, and going through such pain, God promises to give you power and increase your strength. For, each and every child of God is precious in His sight.
This is the truth that will guard against self- pity, which can then also make you very self critical; for you may start thinking that you are the only person who is going through such seemingly immense suffering. And the devil will then whisper in your ear, that it is because there is no one who is worse than you !
But it can be seen in God’s word that every godly person has been through such struggles and experienced similar doubts.
‘Crying out – in the day of my trouble’
The psalm of Asaph describes very eloquently his days of trouble, the feelings of turmoil in him. In the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord; My hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing. [Psalms 77:2]
And he continues to painfully ponder –
Will the Lord cast off forever ? And will He be favorable no more ? [vs 7] He feels rejected by God, and wonders if the anger of God is upon Him, or whether it is his own perception of God that has changed.
Has His mercy ceased forever ? Has His promise failed forevermore ?
Has God forgotten to be gracious ? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies ? [vs 8,9]
The psalmist has six questions of self doubt, and you may have much more ! There is one answer to it all though – He is Jesus !
The twenty second psalm too describes the agony of being seemingly forgotten by God ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me ?’ [Psalms 22:1] are the words that the Savior Himself cried out on the Cross, when He carried the sins of the whole world. And therefore now you can rest in the assurance that God will never leave or forsake you.
When God seems to be silent –
Job, the man declared righteous by God Himself, experienced loss that was sudden, tragic and immense, when almost everything was taken away from him, and he could not understand the reason behind it all. His friends came to comfort him, but offered opinions that were wrong and hurtful, for their knowledge was limited.
And the silence of the Almighty God, the One who knows it all, was what Job found very painful to endure. But He is the Lord who has promised never to leave you. It is what He reaffirms once again, even as you may find things that are troubling in your life. And He says to you, ‘You are going through what is a rough patch; it is a process. But I will increase your power’.
When weariness seems unending –
I am weary with my groaning; all night I make my bed swim; I drench my couch with tears. My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows old because of all my enemies. [Psalms 6:6,7]
The words of the psalmist may seem exaggerated; but in a sense they convey the intensity of the distress that can arise in your life, even when you are a child of God. And when you feel that no one knows or cares about what you are going through, it can seem much worse than what it actually is.
But God knows it all. And He gently rebukes saying,‘ Why do you say your way is hidden and your just claim is passed over by your God ?’. He knows it all and therefore the solution He offers is a logical progression of it, a shifting of focus, to look at Him.
The One who never grows weary –
It is how He increases your strength – it is when your eyes and thoughts are fixed on the Everlasting God who never grows weary or tired. Sharing your troubles with people gives a relief that is very temporary, and may end up multiplying it even. But those who look upon the Lord are made radiant. He increases strength in you as you fix your eyes upon Him, and focus your thoughts on what He has already done, and what He is going to do for you.
His understanding is inscrutable –
He is the God who is great in counsel and mighty in deed. And he has a million ways in which He can answer your current need. You may be weary right now, for the two ways in which you were hoping that help would come have both failed; but the Lord says to you, ‘Look at Me’. The God of creation is still the God of creation ! And in Christ you are a new creation. You are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, to walk in paths that He has already prepared for you.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus –
Look full on His wonderful face; And the things of the earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His beauty and grace. They are the words of an old song, describing very beautifully, what happens when there is a shifting of focus, when you take your eyes off your problem, to look upon Him. With a face made radiant, reflecting His glory, you will be regenerated in your heart, healed and refreshed.
Until He establishes justice –
He will not fail or be discouraged, till He has established justice in the earth. And the coastlands shall wait for His law. [Isaiah 42:4]
The nature of the God who never grows weary, another aspect of it, comes through in the above verse He never gives up halfway. He will not ignore or bypass the good that is due to you; and will not grow weary till your justice is established. He rewards those who seek Him diligently. Your prayers and your labor in the Lord will surely be rewarded.
You are significant in God’s eyes –
Therefore, if it bothers you, His precious child, it bothers Him. Nothing about you, however trivial or small, is insignificant in His sight. And this is His promise A bruised reed He will not break; and a dimly burning wick He will not snuff out, He will bring forth justice for truth. [Isaiah 42:3]
It is His battle, not yours.
His reassurance to you –
God is aware of all that is going on in your life, to the smallest detail. The very hair in your head is all numbered, is how He describes it. And He is never just a spectator, watching on. God is always at work. He works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform. You do not have to give up on your problem, because He does not give up.
He is a faithful God.
Therefore never give up:
Never give up for often it can be a self fulfilling prophecy, as you give up on yourself, deciding that you will not amount to anything; and others around you may pull you down further, by saying ‘amen’ to it !
He is the strong God –
He is strong; and He will increase power in you to hold on to Him, and His promises to you. When on looking at the turbulence around you, your hand loosens, His grip becomes tighter. It is His hand that is holding you firmly. You are in the strong hand of God, and need never give up on yourself. You have a God who never gives up on you; and He increases your strength and power. He remembers your every prayer, even the one you have forgotten and given up on. God remembers, and He answers. It is what happened in the life of Zacharias, the priest, one miraculous day. And it teaches a valuable lesson to give you hope in your life’s circumstance, in the very place where you may have settled for disappointment.
‘You will have joy and gladness’ –
‘Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name, John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth’. [Luke 1:13,14]
They were the words of promise, of answered prayer that the angel spoke to Zacharias, the priest, who stood ministering in the temple of God. Zacharias would have undoubtedly prayed for a child to be born to him and his wife, Elizabeth, for a very long time, when they were both much younger. But slowly as the years went by, and they both grew older, it could have become a distant memory to lie forgotten in the dim recesses of his mind. Hence, he doubtfully queries the angel Gabriel, asking – ‘How shall I know this ? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years’. [Luke 1:18]
He had grown old but God remembered. God hears and remembers every prayer that you pray unto Him, and reminds you of it when He answers it. The passage of time does not matter to Him. He is the Everlasting God who never grows weary. You may have come close to breaking point, of giving up on your prayer and your promise from God; but the Lord says to you, to reassure you ‘I am going to increase your power; and since I do not give up, you do not have to either’.
Every promise of God also has a procedure that needs to be applied with conviction and faith, in order to see it come to pass. Thus, it is as you wait upon Him, that He increases your strength. Those who wait upon the Lord – Those who wait upon the Lord gain new strength; they will mount up on wings like eagles. They will run and not be weary; they will walk and not faint. [Isaiah 40:31]
Waiting on the Lord is all about sitting at His feet to hear His word, and what He speaks to you concerning your situation. For, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord. As the centurion believed, just one word from the Lord, as He speaks to you through His word, could be the miraculous solution – one that increases your strength and gives you power to overcome your threatening situation.
I wait for your word. [Psalms 119:81] declares the psalmist. Waiting to receive the word can be likened, to the attitude of sharp readiness, with which the runners in an important race, await the sound of the shot that triggers the start.
Waiting time is not wasted time –
Mary sat at the feet of Jesus listening to His every word. [Luke 10:39] It is in the waiting time, as you listen to the word of God, that new strength comes to you. It happens as you develop sensitivity to what the Spirit of God is saying to you, even as you are listening to, or studying the word. For, He is full of answers to your problem.
The word of God is like a seed; the seed is small, but it has all the colors and the design of the leaf, the flower and the fruit, in other words, the whole tree inside it. And when the word, like the seed, is sown into the soil of your heart, you receive the strength of God. He speaks to you in a way that you cannot misunderstand; and every word that He speaks to you, through His word, brings life.
Out of weakness made strong –
The eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrews describes the importance of faith; and narrates the list of the heroes of faith, who accomplished great things for God – Who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong. [Hebrews 11:33,34]
By faith, out of weakness, they were made strong. And faith comes by hearing and understanding His word – the word that is full of power and revelation truth. Thus as you wait on the Lord to receive His word, your strength is renewed, to run and not be weary, walk and not be faint. You will not become discouraged or tired.
Running in God’s strength –
He is the Everlasting God who never grows weary or weak. And, He gives you His strength through His word. He also increases His power in you. You are running now in His strength. Therefore, there will be no more weariness or discouragement in your walk with God, and in all aspects of your life, big or small.
Making time – your responsibility:
When you have not had your timely intake of food, you begin to feel weak in your body and unable to function effectively. Similarly, weakness in your soul and body is also an indicator that you need the strength of God’s word. And you need to make time to spend time in the word of God, to hear and understand it, that you may be empowered to carry out great exploits for the glory of God.
The strong God who gives you power and increases your strength:
As you wait upon the Lord and receive new strength, may every tiring thought in you be removed, even as you run and walk in God’s strength. May He Himself be your strength, your stronghold and all that you will ever need in life. You need not give up but can overcome, to mount up on eagles’ wings to fulfill God’s purposes all that He has ordained for you not in your strength, but in the strength of the Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, who never grows tired or weary.
In the Name of Christ Jesus, Amen.
