Psalm 37:39 But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; He is their strength in the time of
trouble. 40 And the LORD shall help them and
deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, And save them, Because
they trust in Him.
Psalm 29:11 The LORD will give strength to His
people; The LORD will bless His people with peace.
These scriptures reveal to us some
wonderful news. If we are God’s people and we put our faith and trust in him,
He will strengthen us in our time of need. Sometimes
when bad things happen in our life such as a death of a loved one or when our
health turns for the worse or when everything seems likes its working against
us, it can begin to beat us down and can cause some to fall away from God. But
it’s very important that we remember to rely upon God during these difficult
times. We need to learn to lean upon his everlasting arms and to cast all our
cares and concerns on him. When we became Christians, we became Gods chosen
people and because of that we have been blessed in the fact that we can and
will receive strength from God as these verses have taught us. So, we should
follow the advice of,
1 Chronicles 16:11 Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek
His face evermore!
In this lesson, I hope can get you
to realize how important is for us seek the Lord and His strength especially
during the difficult times of our lives. I don’t want us to ever forget that
God is always there for us to help us in our time of need. The first thing I
would like to do is to examine the OT and see what it says about drawing
strength from God. I like what is says in,
Isaiah 41:9 You whom I have taken from the ends of
the earth, And called from its farthest regions, And said to you, 'You are My servant, I have chosen you and
have not cast you away: 10 Fear
not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'
The lord is simply saying that
when you are His servant, He will cast off to the side or ignore you. No, he
will strengthen and help you when you need his helping hand and He tells us not
to fear or to become discouraged since He is our God. It should bring us great
comfort every single day knowing that God has made this promise to all those
who belong to him. Now let’s take a look at several OT examples of those who
understood that they could draw strength from God.
Exodus 15:1 Then Moses and the children of Israel
sang this song to the LORD, and spoke, saying: "I will sing to the LORD,
For He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the
sea! 2 The LORD is my strength and song, And He has
become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; My
father's God, and I will exalt Him.
Our first example has to do with
Moses and the children of
Our next example comes from the
story of Samson and Delilah. We should all be familiar with this story because
we just studied this story in Johnny class. If you will remember Delilah tries
to find out how to make Samson lose his strength so the Philistines can
overpower him. Several times Samson lies to her and each time the Philistines
attack him and he easily defeats them. Now you would think that Samson would
figure out what Delilah was trying to accomplish, but in the end he finally
tells her what will make him weak and so she cuts off his hair while he was
asleep and this time the Philistines overtook him and gouged out his eyes.
Samson became nothing more than a spectacle for the Philistines and they had
him on display at large gathering where they were thanking their God for
overcoming him and they asked for Samson to be brought before them to perform.
Now let’s pick up this story in,
Judges 16:26 Then Samson said to the lad who held
him by the hand, "Let me feel the pillars which support the temple, so
that I can lean on them." 27 Now the temple was full of men and
women. All the lords of the Philistines were there -- about three thousand men
and women on the roof watching while Samson performed. 28 Then Samson called to the LORD,
saying, "O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this
once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines
for my two eyes!" 29 And Samson took hold of the two middle
pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on
his right and the other on his left. 30 Then Samson said, "Let me die
with the Philistines!" And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the
lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed
at his death were more than he had killed in his life.
Samson was confident that if he
prayed to God for strength that he would receive it and sure enough he did.
Here we have a man that had been made blind and ridiculed, yet he was able to
gain strength from God through his prayer. As Christians today we need to keep
in mind this simply lesson that no matter how badly we have been beaten weather
physically or mentally we are only one prayer away from drawing strength from
God.
There are many well worded songs
with in Psalms that speak of God and the wonderful strength that we can gain
from him. I want to share at least one of these with you and it comes from,
Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, A very
present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, Even
though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst
of the sea; 3 Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its
swelling. 4 There is a river whose streams shall make
glad the city of God, The holy placeof
the tabernacle of the Most High. 5 God is in the midst of her, she shall not
be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. 6 The nations raged, the kingdoms were
moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted. 7 The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. 8 Come, behold the works of the LORD,
Who has made desolations in the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the end of the
earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the
fire. 10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the
nations, I will be exalted in the earth! 11 The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.
We should never get to the point
in our Christian lives where we think that the Lord’s hands are shortened and
that he cannot help us. This Psalm shows us that God is
always there and if we will just be still and know that He is our God and
salvation, we will always be able to draw strength from him.
Our next example comes from a man
that understood the importance of letting God be his everything and his guide
throughout life. I am talking about David. David has a lot to say about
trusting in God and asking him for strength.
2 Samuel
22:1 Then David spoke to the
LORD the words of this song, on the day when the LORD had delivered him from
the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. 2 And he said: "The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my
deliverer; 3 The God of my strength, in whom I will
trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, My stronghold and my refuge; My
Savior, You save me from violence. 4 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved
from my enemies. 5 'When the waves of death surrounded
me, The floods of ungodliness made me afraid. 6 The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me. 7 In my distress I called upon the LORD,
And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry entered His ears.
David understood who his redeemer
was and you will find him praising God over and over again for what he had done
for him is his life. But David also knew that he could gain comfort and
strength from God’s word as well.
Psalm 119:27 Make me understand the way of Your
precepts; So shall I meditate on Your wondrous works. 28 My soul melts from heaviness;
Strengthen me according to Your word. 29Remove
from me the way of lying, And grant me Your law graciously. 30 I have chosen the way of truth; Your
judgments I have laid before
me. 31 I cling to Your testimonies; O LORD, do
not put me to shame! 32 I will run the course of Your
commandments, For You shall enlarge my heart. 33 Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your
statutes, And I shall keep it to the end. 34Give me understanding,
and I shall keep Your law; Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart. 35 Make me walk in the path of Your
commandments, For I delight in it.
So, if we want to draw strength
from God, we can go to his Word and read it and understand that His Word is
true. So, when we start reading about all the promise God has made to us and
how he guarantees us that if we live faithfully to him and put our trust in
him, we can know that will
make to that wonderful place that is called heaven and this should encourage
and strengthen us. It will
also help us when read about those who were found themselves in worse
situations than we have ever thought about being in, yet they leaned on God and
drew strength from him and persevered. Again, this teaches us that we can do
the same when we find ourselves in a difficult situation.
So far we have looked at several
examples from the OT now let’s take a look at the NT and see what it says about drawing strength
from God.
Sometimes our bodies will develop
a problem. Maybe we can’t see as well or perhaps we loose a limb or maybe we
become physically weak. Going through such and ordeal may cause some to loose
their faith, but this should not be the case. Notice what we learn from Paul as
he had to deal with an infirmity in his own life.
2
Corinthians 12:6 For though I
might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I
refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me. 7 And lest I should be exalted above
measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to
me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with
the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, "My grace is
sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."
Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of
Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities,
in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For
when I am weak, then I am strong.
Paul would have loved to have his
thorn in the flesh removed because he asked god 3 times to remove it. But Gods
response was my grace is sufficient for you for my strength is made perfect in
weakness. God is teaching you and I that there will be infirmities in our life,
but no matter what your infirmity may be, God’s grace should be sufficient
enough for us. Knowing that we are God’s chosen people and that we are in a
saved condition because of the wonderful gift of grace he has given us through
his Son should give us the comfort and strength we need to keep our infirmity
from dragging us down. If
anything, we should use our illness to grow closer to God by gaining strength
from him during these trying times.
Another thing we need to realize
is that every single Christian no matter how spiritually strong they are will
always have need to draw strength from God. Again, Paul is another great
example of this. I think everyone would agree that Paul was a very dedicated
servant of God, but we have several examples that indicate that he struggled
with his Christianity and he had to draw strength from God to go on. For
instance notice what,
Acts 18:9 Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the
night by a vision, "Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep
silent; 10 "for I am with you, and no one
will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city."
To put this into context, Paul was
at
Acts 27:20 Now when neither sun nor stars
appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved
was finally given up. 21 But after long abstinence from food,
then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, "Men, you should have
listened to me, and not have sailed from
Again, it is implied that Paul was
beginning to doubt that he would survive the voyage until an angel came and
reassured him that he would live to see Caesar. Paul gained strength from God
during this time, which seemed hopeless to everyone else. This shows that
everyone no matter how strong or weak they are must draw strength from God from
time to time. Another important lesson we learn from Paul’s time at sea is that
once he was strengthened by God, he shared his strength with those around him
as he was being a vessel for God. We need to keep this in mind because God can
use us as a vessel to strengthen those around us, but the source of strength is
always from God. So when we see someone else hurting or struggling with
something, try to help them by being there for them. The Bible tells us to bear
one another’s burdens and weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who
rejoice this all related to sharing the strength that you gain from God.
But what happens if you find
yourself in a place where Christians are failing in their duty to bear your
burden and you find yourself neglected. Well, even in instances like this, we
can still gain strength from God. Paul understood this and gives us a great
example of this in,
2 Timothy 4:16 At
my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be
charged against them. 17 But the Lord stood with me and
strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. And I
was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. 18 And the Lord will deliver me from
every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!
As you can see, Paul wrote a lot
about gaining strength from God and there are many other verses that we could
go to that he has written on this topic. However, for times sake I just want to
share one more with you. In this next writing, Paul is talking about how is
possible for some to become discouraged when they see others going through
difficult times and he will explain how we should not allow this to bring us
down but instead we should allow God to strengthen us.
Ephesians
3:13 Therefore I ask that you
do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. 14 For this reason I bow my knees to the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to
the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in
the inner man, 17that
Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and
grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the
saints what is the width and length and depth and
height -- 19 to know the love of Christ which
passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do
exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power
that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ
Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
So lets us never ever forget that
we can make it through any hardship that this life may bring if we simply remember
to trust in God and to gain strength from Him during these times. Paul learned that lesson in life
and that is why he was able to say with all confidence
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me.
I hope this lesson this evening
has encouraged you in someway and has reminded you that you have a God who
loves you and will never forsake and you can gain strength from him.