I open the door…
And look around the room…
Where is everybody?
Half the people are missing…
One word passes through my mind as I survey the empty room…
Failure.
The day will be a failure.
How will we accomplish our goals without the people whose seats are empty?
A surprise attendee speaks…
And takes the meeting in a new, important direction…
A direction we would never have considered if we had stayed on the agenda.
Two other unexpected people offer special skills that will help us reach our new goal.
Then I realize…
The room was never empty…
It was always filled with the strength of God …
The presence of God …
The power and purpose of God.
A purpose I almost missed…
Missed because my eyes were filled with my own puny plans and nonexistent strength…
My own version of success and failure…
My own weakness…
Forgetting that God tells us to surrender our inability to His ability…
To surrender our weakness to the strength of God.
Moses told God he didn’t know what to say…
…“Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent… I am slow of speech and tongue.” Exodus 4:10
God said, don’t worry about it…
I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” Exodus 4:12
Jonah was so afraid to go to Ninevah, He didn’t have he strength…
God said all aboard the express whale …
…and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Jonah 1:17
Like Jonah…Like Moses…We wait to follow God…
Waiting until we decide we have strength enough…
Forgetting God has told us…
“…my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
Forgetting it is the strength of God we need… not our own strength…
I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13
Forgetting it is in the armor of God that we will find our true strength…
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Ephesians 6:10
2 thoughts on “Strength of God”
I like the line about our eyes being filled with our own puny plans and non-existent power.
Right now, I’m studying humility. God is pretty plain that He favors the humble and stands against the proud and arrogant.
So I was wondering… How does Humble act? (We have 1 Cor 13…we know exactly how Love acts. I wanted a Humble chapter.)
So I’ve been studying. And so much of what you say here fits in perfectly.
Thank you for these thoughts today.
Thanks, Elaine. I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I think I have done something really humble, I find it easy to be proud of my humility. (Oops!) Maybe that’s just another case of my eyes being filled with my own efforts, instead of seeing them from God’s perspective.