Daily Affirmations - Day 4 - If We Faint Not - Divine Strength
Day 4: Divine strength
So do not fear, for I AM with you; do not be dismayed, for I AM your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10).
Human strength is of many kinds, but in any form it will spend itself in due time. God can lend to men immense physical force; but though a man had the strength of a lion and an ox combined, he would one day fail...
Mental strength is a noble possession, but it also fails its owner, for at best it is a finite power. The wisest of men [eventually] feel the infirmities of age creeping upon them, and frequently present the sad spectacle of second childhood.
Death pays no regard to science or eloquence. The fool dies, and as surely dies the senator, the philosopher, the divine. When you take up the skull of a sage, you find no weight of wisdom there, nor trace of all the curious movements of a potent brain.
Knowledge, genius, imagination, prophetic fire, all depart; even before death they often fail. Baffled by mysteries, balked by prejudice, blinded by pride, the man of great understanding may yet be driven to his wit’s end...
Spiritual strength is... a heavenly strength, but so far as it is transfused into our humanity... it also may [become] weak, though, blessed be God, it can never utterly die...
Let every man know therefore that whatever his strength may be, of body, mind, or spirit, if it be his own it will fail him one day. Let him see to it therefore that he does not trust it; especially... with eternal hazards or rest upon it for his soul’s safety...
It will be a horrible thing to... find your staff fail you when you are on the edge of a measureless precipice. It will be terrible to be building and to find your foundation washed from under you, and all your handiwork carried away by the flood!
Yet so it must be if we are depending upon anything that comes of ourselves. Our own righteousness, thoughts, religiousness, prayers, resolves, attainments, achievements,— everything that is of ourselves must sooner or later prove themselves to be but human...
On the other hand, what a contrast there is as to divine strength!... It abides in joyous fulness, never in the least diminished. With God there are no years to make Him decline with age, no labours to tax His powers... God changes not in any degree whatever: the fountain of His almightiness still overflows.
What then? These two things seem very far away— man with his faintness, his strength gradually drying up: God with His eternity and inexhaustible omnipotence. If we can bring these two together, if by an act of faith you that are human can be linked with the divine, what a wondrous thing will happen!...
You are weakness itself, but if you are united to the divine strength you shall be infinitely strong... When the heart drinks life from the heart of God, and man is at one with his Maker, then all is well.
~ C.H. Spurgeon, Renewing Strength (Slightly edited)
Comments