Again, this morning I woke up remembering another verse from scripture.
“the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10
I then started thinking of “the Lord as our strength,” and looked up several other verses about it. As I read them, I realized how the writers of those verses came to understand this principle.
I believe their revelation of this strength came out of the very relationship that we talked about in my previous post.
We come closer and closer to Him, and likewise, we allow His Spirit to go deeper and deeper into us. As in any relationship, the closer you are to someone, the better you know them. As we grow closer to Him, we realize our weaknesses in our own character and abilities to be and do all that He has placed within us to be and do. HOWEVER, as we realize our own weakness, we come to know His amazing strength. Even more, we realize that by His Spirit, He has put that same Spirit IN us.
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:10
He is not only the Rock that we can stand upon or the cliff under which we can take shelter, He is strength, hope and joy that rise from within which hold onto in the midst the storms and trials that we encounter from one day to the next.
When we realize and learn to trust HIS strength instead of our own we find joy in any circumstances and learn to truly rest in Him and as result truly grow to experience “the peace which passes all understanding. “
Whose strength are you trusting in?
Nehemiah 8:10 NIV
[10] Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Exodus 15:2 NIV
[2] “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.
Psalms 28:7 NIV
[7] The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.
Psalms 105:4 NIV
[4] Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.
Hebrews 13:6 NIV
[6] So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”