The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger. Job 17:9 NLT
In the natural, I am not very strong. I have never been able to lift my body weight, even as a kid to do a pull-up. I can do a pull-up in the water to the lower bar on the diving board. I am amazed at the women in the class I take who can pull themselves up for a chin-up to the diving board. I have not been able to do a push-up on the wall where you lift your body out of the water. I did ungracefully once roll myself out of the pool as I could not get to a ladder. I can do a plank, probably not with perfect form, for about forty-five seconds before I collapse in exhaustion and my arms trembling. I doubt I will ever be known for my physical strength, unless it is for a lack-there-of.
Yet spiritually speaking, I have grown strong. I have walked through a few things that have tested my faith. In my weakness, God showed Himself strong. As a result of withstanding tests and trials through Him, I began growing strength. When I couldn’t rely on my strength, but His, I grew stronger. I grew stronger because I knew in my weakness, God would come through – not that He might, not that He could, but that He would come through. It hasn’t always looked like I thought it would, but He has always shown up in my weakness.
I took a quick biblical inventory of what makes one strong, repeatedly Scriptures indicate that knowledge and wisdom make one stronger.
The wise are mightier than the strong, and those with knowledge grow stronger and stronger. Proverbs 24:5
One wise person is stronger than ten leading citizens of a town! Ecclesiastes 7:19
James tells us that if any of us lacks wisdom we can ask for it, and God will give it generously. God desires for us to grow stronger in Him, and in Him we can gain the wisdom to become stronger. Growing stronger in our relationship with Him, grows our faith. Growing stronger helps us believe for bigger things. It allows us to see things that we would otherwise not see as possible. Believing for bigger and seeing things as possible is the key to asking God to do the impossible.
We can exercise and build up physical strength without much progress. However, with God we need only ask and He will meet our weakness with His strength. He will replace our knowledge with His wisdom. His ways are higher than ours. We grow stronger through Him and by Him.
This blog is part of a #Write31Days series on growth. 31 Days is an online writing challenge, where bloggers pick one topic and write a post on that topic every day.
Restoring Voice 