“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.”
As a very busy person, I am often asked how I do it? My response is always the same; The Lord is my strength. Although I say this always, its only when I sit down to reflect on some of the things I deal with daily, that I begin to really see how I couldn’t have gotten out of bed without the strength of God. I will therefore define strength in the way I see it manifested in my life. “Strength from God is the cloud of the overwhelming grace and presence of God that covers and enables us to function.” It is not compromised by time, place, activity or circumstances”. Without the presence of God and the power of his grace and strength we cannot function.
In Psalm 28:7, the psalmist does not only view God as his strength but also as a shield. From the definition of strength above, one can see that when one experiences God’s strength, there is a provision for protection because of His presence. The Lord told Gideon in Judges 6:14 “The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hands. Am I not sending you?” What this means is go with my presence; my grace will be sufficient for the assignment and no one will harm you because I will be with you to fight for you. The strength from God is not just getting up daily from bed and being able to move our body parts and going around. It’s fighting our battles; waging war against the enemy, like in Gideon’s case, the Lord strength was upon him to wage war and defeat the Midianites who had oppressed the children of God.
Psalm 18:39 says “You armed me with strength for battle; you humbled my adversaries before me.” The strength of God is our spiritual weapon against our enemies. When we stand in spiritual battle on our own ability, the enemy will see us like grasshoppers but when we stand with God, we see the manifestation of Exodus 15:3 “The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name”. He is not just a warrior but the King of glory who is mighty in battle according to Psalm 24:8 “Who is this King of Glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.” Then, when it comes to battle with God, the enemy trembles. That is why the word of the Lord says in Exodus 14:14 “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." He will fight for us because he knows what we do not know. Remember the enemy we fight on earth is the same one who was thrown out of heaven, so there is nothing hidden about him that God does not know.
When we allow God to be our strength, He goes before us and fights every battle. With Him is victory and the enemy is always 100% defeated. Give the Lord an opportunity to be your strength today and watch Him go before you according to Isaiah 42:13 “The LORD will go forth like a warrior; He will stir up His zeal like a soldier. He will shout; yes, He will roar. He will prevail against His enemies”. There is joy in victory and we can trust God with our daily lives for the best like the psalmist says in our beginning Bible verse Psalm 28:7.
Prayer:
Father I come to you now oh Lord thanking you for strength. Forgive me in times when I have placed my strength in my own ability. Envelop me in Your unfailing strength and grant me the grace to wait on you daily as in Isaiah 40:31 “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” I wait on you Lord to give me a new strength that comes only from you my Lord in Jesus mighty name I pray. Amen and Amen.
Blessings!
Ennette Heaggans