Happy Manly Monday! I know last week I departed from the usual Titus 1 study and application and guess what? I'm doing it again for the next couple of weeks. When I'm teaching and preaching I always want to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and follow wherever He goes. Well, where He went this morning at 6:00 am was straight to my heart to talk about real strength. So here goes.....
Those of you who know me personally know that in no world would I be classified as being especially physically strong. Now don't get me wrong, I can do OK on the basketball court (or at least I could when I still worked at Teen Challenge and was still in shape) and I can help OK with some heavy lifting. But let's face it, you're probably not going to see me at World Gym any time soon putting up 300 lbs. on the bench press. For what I lack in physical strength, I've tried to make up for in spiritual and mental strength. I try to exercise my spirit through reading God's Word, spending time with Him and other believers, and praying in the Holy Spirit. I try to continue developing my mental strength through reading books on a variety of topics from history to Christian growth to some of the latest teen fiction (keeping up with 7th grade English students and all). What I've been noticing lately though in myself has been a tendency to rely on my own strengths and not God's. What this has led to has been worry, stress, and even moments of frustration and misdirected anger.
This morning, as I sat on the couch enjoying the quiet of the morning broken only by the sound of fresh coffee brewing, I asked God what He wanted me to read from His Word. His answer: Isaiah 22:3. Here's how this verse reads in the Amplified Bible: "All your [military] leaders have fled together; without the bow [which they had thrown away] they have been taken captive and bound by the archers. All of you who were found were bound together [as captives], though they had fled far away." Your response right now may be what mine was this morning: Huh??? Then I sensed the Holy Spirit urging me to read on in Isaiah 22. As I did I realized that I was reading the words the Lord spoke through the prophet Isaiah during the reign of King Hezekiah. This particular passage refers to the siege of the city of Jerusalem by the army of Assyria. Even though Hezekiah was making reforms in the land and working hard to turn the people's hearts back to God, God still allowed the Assyrians to attack the city. Why? We'll talk about that in a moment.
Some of the verses in Isaiah 22 and 2 Chronicles 22 are very telling about the preparations for war that were happening and the attitude of those who made them. Isaiah 22:8 states that God removed the protective covering of Judah and the people began to look to the weapons of the king's armory. Isaiah 22:9, 10 show that the people broke down houses to get materials to repair breaches in the walls and collected water. Isaiah 22:11-13 are perhaps some of the most telling concerning the attitude of the people. They made a reservoir for a pool between two of their walls, but did not look to the Maker of the pool and the Planner of this time. Even when the Lord called them to fasting and praying, they decided there was no hope for them and instead planned one last hurrah before they died, complete with feasting and drinking. In 2 Chronicles 32, we see Hezekiah taking courage (v. 5) and building up the broken wall, raising towers upon it, building another wall, strengthening the City of David, and making abundant shields and weapons. We see him in V. 6 setting captains of war over the people and gathering them together. In verse 7 he tells the people, "Be strong and courageous. Be not afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him; for there is Another with us greater than [all those] with him." (AMP) Hezekiah continues in verse 8, "With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles."
These show great preparation and an inspiring speech, but I must wonder a little if Hezekiah truly believed what he said. We see him later spreading the threatening letter from the Assyrian commander before the Lord and he and Isaiah praying for deliverance. We see God sending His angel and the angel slaying 185,000 Assyrian troops in their tents and working a great deliverance. However, when we lay 2 Chronicles 32 alongside Isaiah 22, I wonder if Hezekiah needed to make all the repairs and make all the weapons in the first place. Based on what the Lord says through Isaiah, it would appear that had the people prayed and fasted in the first place, He would have worked their deliverance anyway. Sometimes as Christian men, we face a trial or a battle and we know the right things to say; "If God is for us, who can be against us?" and "The battle is the Lord's not mine" and yet we still build up our own walls and make our own weapons and only when things get really tight to we fall our faces before God with fasting and weeping and seek Him for His outstretched arm and delivering hand. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying don't prepare to meet life's trials head on. I just think sometimes (I know it's true in my own life and has been lately) we make all the battle preparations, looking at our own resources and our own strength first, then we seek the One Who gave us those resources in the first place. Didn't God rebuke even David for numbering his troops and looking at his own strength? Had David forgotten that God could do more through him with a sling and a stone than David could do on his own with the assembled might of Israel and Judah? In what areas of our lives have we been trying to control things and fight in our own strength?
So why did God allow Assyria to attack Judah even when Hezekiah was doing the right things?. I don't know the full answer to that. Why does God allow anything bad to happen to us? But perhaps at least in part it was to show them that when it comes down to it, He is the Source of all our strength and He wants to show Himself strong on behalf of His children. What father wouldn't?
Psalm 84:5a says, "Blessed [happy, fortunate, to be envied] is the man whose strength is in You." Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12 that he had the realization that God's strength and power are made perfect in our weaknesses. He said then that he would glory in his weaknesses and infirmities that the strength and power of Christ may rest upon him. How many of us as men glory in our weaknesses? What will it take for us to realize our weaknesses early in the battle and to call on Him Who desires to be our Strength and Salvation?
Lord, I confess that lately I have been trying to to things in my own strength. When facing tests, battles, and trials, I know the "right" things to say, but that doesn't always mean I surrender my weaknesses fully to Your strength. May we as men learn that in ourselves, we are not as strong as we think we are, and that in You, we are stronger than we ever thought we could be. May we be strong in You and the power of Your might (Ephesians 6:10). May we realize that unless You build the house, they who build it labor in vain and unless You keep the city, the watchman wakes but in vain (Psalm 127:1). In our weaknesses, show Yourself mighty on our behalf to us, our families, our churches, our communities, and our nation. In Jesus' precious and strong name I pray, Amen.
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