Real Strength

Thursday, August 4, 2022

What joy for the nation whose God is the Lord, whose people he has chosen as his inheritance.  The Lord looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race.  From his throne he observes all who live on the earth.  He made their hearts, so he understands everything they do.  The best-equipped army cannot save a king, nor is great strength enough to save a warrior.  Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory—for all its strength, it cannot save you.  But the Lord watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his unfailing love.  He rescues them from death and keeps them alive in times of famine.  We put our hope in the Lord.  He is our help and our shield.  In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.  Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone.  Psalm 33:12-22

The Psalmist makes me think of the absurdity of strength, the far-as-the-east-is-from-the-west difference between perceived strength and genuine strength.  Imagine a four-year-old child, angry at his father, swinging his fists wildly at Dad’s face.  He imagines he will do damage, but doesn’t have a strength that will sate his anger.  Consider the imagination of a little girl, dressed in her best WalMart princess costume.  What throne in all the world belongs to her strength, it’s all only in her mind.  Picture a young man, three days after graduating from college, dressed in a new suit he purchased with his new credit card, for the interview with a prospective employer.  His bank account is down to $1.84, but the bills from tuition to earn his degree weigh-in at $86,000.  There are two-outs in the 9^th inning, and he’s down to his last swing at the plate.  For all his “accomplishment” the strength of that moment is sitting on the other side of the interview table.

The genuine strength one possesses can never be measured, except in the relative position to absolute strength.  It is often said the President of the United States is the most powerful person on the planet.  But the powers of the office (which by far supercede the powers of the human being in that office) are only granted by the will of the people who elect presidents.  And even then, the checks and balances of our governance question that power. 

Genuine strength resides outside of time, space, and creation.  Ultimate strength belongs to God alone.  All else was, and is, subject to God’s creative will.  And the human, created person, confidently believing in his or her own supremacy, is about as hapless a fool as a gnat in a wrestling match with an elephant, no matter the perception of that person’s strength by other created beings.

For You Today

Is your hope in your dreams, your abilities, your determination, or even someone who you perceive champions your best interests?  Do you sense strength coming your way from that promotion, salary increase, or new nutritional regimen?  Have others told you how much they admire your accomplishments?

Remember He who created all of what you see, hear, sense, and imagine…and so much more.  His genuine strength is to be found in His unfailing love…for you!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,000 devotional posts in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic explore some of these:  Total Trust and Misplaced Trust

[1] Images:  Pixabay.com     Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©