When Strength Fails

Maybe you have not been there yourself. You might have seen and heard of others who, even though they have worked so hard, suffered long, and endured much, their strength fails.

Some leave faith behind, and others go on to greater heights.  Both need talking about...

I have seen them both. And I would share what I have learned from them.

As for myself, when I am no longer able, I throw myself into the arms of HE who IS able to carry me through, for if I do not, and my own weakness turns me away from the Lord, then I shouldn't be surprised at the calamity that life becomes.

We know of one dear young man who has proclaimed himself agnostic and has reaped the whirlwind: divorces, personal failure in work and life, even arrest for being too poor to pay alimony. Here is the epitome of self-destruction.

Another, with the same name, has not faced that rampage, but his great gifts are used only for himself and in the name of higher humanist ideals. Then others who seek their own good without the fetters of faith...

Since we cannot see their hearts or their souls in Christ, we can only see their brokenness and the shame it throws upon the Saviour. 

Without holding to the hope that Christ gives, where is the strength to come from in life?  Even great success, as anyone who has experienced it knows, brings only a brief reprieve from emptiness...

Both young men I speak of were evidently wounded, from what I know, when dealing with others in the church at large. That in itself is a great warning!  So I ask myself first. How do I, do we, as believers, treat others in our gatherings? Can our callous treatment result in such destruction?

It can, and it does.

But this is not a blame game.  Fortunately, in all the cases I have mentioned, there are believers around each, revealing the light in Christ and praying for their return.  It is not always so.

But for every one of such failures, there is a multitude of Christians hanging on to faith as their anchor amid the storm of life they are going through.  Online, I have heard of many trials and seen the cost that some pay in life. My own mother-in-law bore long, painful illness.

These are sowing a harvest that we all in hope bear till the day that Christ brings us home to that place he has prepared for us.

But the strength?  Where can we find help?  God's word is the greatest help.  Any site can give the passages we have heard for strength. Go to Bible Pathways for yourself and wade in!

The next most needed is prayer!  When we spend time with our loving, mighty God, He will impart the strength we need.  

When I couldn't sleep last night, I reached out to the Lord.  What a glorious time it was as He revealed how He has truly blessed the bride of Christ, the church. Indeed. Strength comes from the time we spend with HIM!  Those glorious times can refuel our empty spiritual tanks.

But all this is by faith.  He leads, provides, and strengthens.  He is all in all.  If He is not all in our hearts, then failure can take any of us, whether it be through fleshly failure or a complacent life seeking comfort rather than the cross.

Like the solar stream of power ever available, reach out to our great Source of strength, and through His Spirit find the wherewithal for another day, by faith!