Ancient Words For Today - 44
Have you faced seemingly impossible situations or difficulties that appeared like high mountains, while you yourself were looking up from the valley below? The truth is we all encounter such struggles in life and must cope with the uncertainty of our future in this world. This can cause us to become weary, feel overburdened, and even fearful. Our weaknesses can be physical, emotional or spiritual in nature, and at times all three may impact us at once. We may feel too weak to fight the battle or think that the odds are so formidably stacked against us that we cannot be victorious and may not even try.
Jesus understood and personally experienced the battles of living in this present world. Isaiah, speaking prophetically of the first coming of the Messiah, Jesus, said, "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
When Jesus was physically weak from a long fast and alone in the wilderness, He was attacked three times by Satan. He resisted Satan's temptations by the power of God and by obedience to the Holy Word of God. He also was verbally and physically attacked and was rejected by most of the religious rulers of Israel and by the people of Israel in large part. Jesus was the target of scornful arrows and spears of hate launched at Him without cause. Satan tried to extinguish the spiritual light that Jesus brought into the world, but could not put out the light. Even in His death on the cross, Jesus was victorious: He rose from the dead, opening the way of victory for those who through faith in Him would become his Church. This same Jesus also promised to strengthen His people and make their way perfect.
Satan hates believers and tries to discomfit and neutralize them so they won't spread God's message of love and grace. Satan attacks in various ways to discourage and convince believers that they cannot live a victorious Christian life. He does so by suggesting that it is too hard to live by God's standards and that we will fail, or that by serving God it would spoil all of our fun. He casts doubt about our position in God's family, parading our sins in front of us and suggesting that we are fooling ourselves to believe that God could or would save such feeble folks so prone to sin, or that He could use us to accomplish His purposes. When God doesn't immediately answer our prayers, or answers them but not the way we expected or hoped, Satan uses such occasions to plant doubt as to whether God really loves us or is acting in our best interests. These are the kinds of spiritual battles, against the lies and temptations of the enemy, that we are all engaged in, like it or not. We need God's strength and His truth to be victorious.
God said He would gird us with strength. We don't have to rely upon our own strength to live the Christian life or to do God's will. Consider God's assurance to Zerubbabel: This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: Zechariah 4:6-7
God told Paul: My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul told the believers at Corinth: Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. From 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:29-31
God also said He would perfect those who trust in Him - it is the work of God in our lives that makes our ways perfect. He has promised to finish the work he started: We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 and He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: Phi 1:6
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; Hebrews 12:1-2
Dear Lord, we ask that You would prepare and strengthen us for the battle we are in and continue Your work of perfecting us so that we can live in the ways that are pleasing to You and bring glory to Your Name.