A TIME FOR STRENGTH

Words of Encouragement from Bruce and Stan

When you stare adversity in the face, it’s easy to forget what it feels like to have strength. We wonder how and when we’re going to get it back. Well, before we talk about strength, we have to deal with adversity, because these two are inextricably linked.

It’s unrealistic to think we deserve a life free from troubles and adversity, yet that’s what many people have come to expect. Even those who believe in God lose their confidence when bad things happen. Sometimes they even blame God for their problems because they believe a loving God would never allow His children to suffer.

Not only do we incorrectly think God wants to keep us from adversity, but we also wrongly conclude that we have the strength to get through our troubled times. Moses, who is known in history as the great deliverer, learned that his strength was not enough to get the job done.

God told Moses He had a big task for Him: lead God’s people out of Egypt. Suddenly this man who was once the Prince of Egypt felt incredibly weak. He objected to God’s assignment, complaining that he lacked the ability to carry out this seemingly impossibly request. Moses told God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11).

Instead of focusing on God’s strength, he was obsessed with his own weakness. But God was patient with Moses and assured him that He would be the one delivering His people. All Moses had to do was trust and obey.

As soon as Moses took his eyes off his own weakness and focused on God’s strength, God used him to deliver His people out of Egypt and through the Red Sea against the mightiest army on earth.

It was not the strength of Moses that accomplished the impossible. It was the strength of God working through a willing person. Moses recognized this unique principle—that God’s strength is displayed through weak but willing people—when he composed this song immediately after the great victory:

“The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him” (Exodus 15:2).

Where is your strength coming from? If you think you are strong enough to get through the adversity we are all experiencing right now, you may be facing an uphill battle. But if you are willing to trust God and obey Him, He will be your strength and your salvation.

In fact, God is actively looking for people who are willing to trust and obey Him. He isn’t searching for people who put their trust in their own strength and self-sufficiency. God is looking for people who realize they are unable to walk through the valley alone, who recognize they aren’t strong enough to overcome the adversity they are facing, and who are committed to do what God is asking them to do:

 The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him (2 Chronicles 16:9).

Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz have collaborated on 75 books, with more than four million copies in print.