When We Need Strength

Verse of the day: Psalm 73:26 My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

There come those times in our life when the reality of what is important really hits home. We waste much of our time searching and trying to gain that which we think will bring us happiness and contentment, only to find out that all that we have been after and focused on is vanity. King Solomon summed it up like this in Ecclesiastes 1:14, I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind. Sadly, too many of us do not realize the vanity of life, and what little time we have here on earth, until we suffer a loss that opens our eyes to this truth. James 4:13-15 tell us, Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” The truth of the matter is that not one of us is promised tomorrow, and neither is it promised to those dearest to us; for this reason we must live life focused on what is most important (the first being to make sure we have a right relationship with Jesus). We must not take for granted the life we have been given or the people that God has placed in our lives. The sad truth is that we will all experience the loss of a loved one or some type of loss that will be heartbreaking, and cause us to question God as to why this has happened. First, we need to realize that because sin and death entered the world when Adam and Eve sinned against God, tragedy in life is unavoidable. However, when troubling times hit home and all seems hopeless, there is a place we can go to, and One we can always turn to. When our strength fails and we experience the emptiness of losing what is dear to us, God promises to always be here for us. Hebrews 13:5b reminds us that He will never leave us nor forsake us. When no one else understands our pain, Jesus always does. He understands the pain of rejection (Is 53:3; Lk 19:41), as He was betrayed by one of his disciples and abandoned by the others in His hour of need (Mt 26:47-56). He knew the pain of tragically losing a family member when His cousin John the Baptist was murdered and beheaded (Mt 14:1-12). The bottom line is that no matter what we suffer in this life, we have One who can relate in all that we go through because He experienced all that we would suffer while He was here on earth; and now He is the One that we can turn to when our heart and flesh fail us, and we are feeling weak and grieved. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 tells us, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” We may not always understand why God allows the suffering He allows, but this we can be sure of; He will always be with us, we can always turn to Him, and He is the only One who can always understand how we feel when no one else can. God is our refuge and strength in our times of suffering (Ps 46:1), and only in Him can we trust that in the end all things will work out for our good and His glory (Rom 8:28).

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing their sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).