Looking for strength to go on
During those times when you find yourself alone on one side of a conflict with the other side well-padded with people, you can find yourself fruitlessly arguing, or silently discouraged that your position seems to be falling on deaf ears.
You want validation that you are pursuing God’s purposes versus taking matters into your own hands. You want to know what it looks like to rely on God and obey his words that bring life.
Although you know that relying on what you know apart from God‘s words brings death, this approach seems to come more naturally. When others are convinced that their way is right without consulting God, do you just look for strength to go on within yourself in order to oppose them? Do you try to find and rally others to fight on your side?
Hoping for strength to go on
You want the one who made you to hear as you call to him, as you cry to him, as you plead with him for mercy and for help with a sense of abandon knowing that if he doesn’t answer, there is no one else in whom you can hope for strength to go on. You are undone. You have come to the end of yourself.
Finding strength to go on
Earnestly seeking him and believing that he rewards those who do that, you can put all your eggs in his one basket. You can trust him to be your shepherd and to carry you forever. Since he makes good on all his promises, you have made a wise choice relying on him for strength to go on rather than on yourself or anyone else.
When he speaks a word of promise, it’s as good as done. You wait for it in eager anticipation of its fulfillment remembering that you were not made to live on earth for eternity. In fact, your time here compared to your time in the new heavens and the new earth is less than a blink of an eye! That should give you hopeful perspective as you wait.
“From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear,no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.”
“But, as it is written,‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined,what God has prepared for those who love him.’"
Have you been misunderstood? Have you felt rejected? Have your words been deemed as irrelevant? Has your advice been disregarded? Even if people with whom you ought to be close to are seemingly against you, you can go on in confidence, peace, and unashamed. As you rely on him, you can quietly rejoice in your good shepherd who hears you, who delights in blessing you with his very presence. He will carry you through the sadness of bruised relationships giving you strength to go on in the upward climb.
Singing Psalm 28 for strength to go on
Amazingly, you can find strength to go on in one outside yourself in whom you can trust as a rock, a shield, a saving refuge, a shepherd to carry you. The only thing is, he gets the glory as you get out of the way. Singing Psalm 28, you are pulling up alongside one whose heart has done just that, training your emotions to delight in being carried, and going on in grateful wonder that he would carry you.
Blessed be the Lord! For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.
"The Lord is the strength of his people;
He is the saving refuge of his anointed.
O save your people and bless your heritage!
Be their shepherd and carry them forever.~ Psalm 28:6-9
March 7, 2022
Edited: March 12, 2022
Published: April 2, 2022
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