EmmDev 2023-09-05 [God says you are...] Strong

Strong

It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great. You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn. (Psalms18:32-36)

David wrote this song during his desert escapades where God repeatedly rescued him from a murderous Saul. Think of it: King Saul with all his authority and his mighty army on the one hand, David and a rag tag group of ruffians on the other. Saul must have been putting out rewards and bounties on David's life, sending spies everywhere and David was on the run - on the back foot - never getting time to find his feet. It should have simply been a matter of time before he cornered David.

But God was watching over David, giving him courage, strength and protection. At times God even delivered Saul over to David so that David could demonstrate to him that he meant him no harm.

One of the loveliest examples is that at one point, when David and his men get back to the settlement they had established, they discover that their wives have been carried off by marauders and everyone is devastated - They weep until they have no strength left to weep. Then it says: "David found strength in the Lord his God" (1Sam30:6) and they are able to pursue their enemy and with God's help and intervention rescue their loved ones.

I think this hymn of praise reflects poetically the gift strength that God gives in the midst of chaos.

This is not Popeye's spinach or Asterix's magic potion or Sinbad's belt of strength. This is much deeper. It's the strength to endure. It is strength of character. It is the strength of conviction and it is the strength to overcome and persevere.

With God's help, you and I can be Strong.

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