Morning By Morning #349

They go from strength to strength.

Psalm 84:7

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

There are various renderings of these words in different Bible translations, but all of them convey the idea of progress. “They go from strength to strength” means they grow stronger and stronger. Typically when walking, for example, we go from strength to weakness. We start fresh and strong for our journey, but when the road gets rough and the sun beats down, we begin to tire and then must painfully continue upon our weary way. Yet a Christian pilgrim continuously receives fresh supplies of grace and is as vigorous after many years of toilsome travel and difficulties as when he first began. He may not appear as zealous or as spontaneous in his zeal as he once was, but he is much stronger in the things that constitute true power, and although he may travel more slowly, he travels far more steadily.

Some gray-haired veterans are as strong in their grasp of the truth and as zealous in sharing it as they were in their younger days. Regrettably, often that is not the case, for the love of many grows cold and sin abounds in their life. This, however, is their own fault—not the fault of this promise of God that still holds true: “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isa. 40:30 – 31).

Other Christians sit around worrying and troubling themselves about the future, saying, “We only go from affliction to affliction.” That may be true, “You of little faith” (Matt. 14:31), but you also “go from strength to strength,” for you will never find a bundle of affliction that does not have sufficient grace tied to it. And God will always give you strength equal to the burden your shoulders must bear.

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

One of the beautiful aspects of the Christian life is that we never have to rely on our own strength. So-called “good deeds” done in our strength do not have the blessing of God upon them and do not bring Him glory. In fact, these works done only in our own power are simply works of the flesh. This means they are actually sinful deeds and will ultimately burn as “wood, hay or straw” (1 Cor. 3:12). Our role is simply to be a vessel through which the Lord can work regardless of the level of our personal physical strength. This is precisely why the Lord told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,” to which Paul responded, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 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 Cor. 12:9 – 10).

Meditate on the following promises today, trusting in the Lord who is your strength: “The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust” (Ps. 18:2 KJV). “The LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (Isa. 12:2). “Trust…in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength” (Isa. 26:4 KJV).

Father, grant me the attitude of John the Baptist, who declared, “[Christ] must become greater; I must become less” (John 3:30).