Empowered!

Empowered!

He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound]. [II Cor. 12:9.] Isaiah 40:29 AMPC

First, please note that there will always be circumstances that will test your knowledge and experience of God. Jacob and Israel in the verses before today's extract wondered about the same too. Israel had seen God at work, but it had also seen how God punishes sin. Second, With God, there are no favourites with sin, or overlooking sin. He punishes sin in whoever it is found. I need to watch my life closely so I do not toy with sin. 

We seem to be encouraging a generation that is no longer shocked at sin. We have found novel ways to call sin; we refer to it as human weakness, things we can't help but struggle with, part of our nature and all, and as much as sin is part of the human nature, the whole essence of Christ being sent was to destroy the power of sin in us. If the gift has then been given, yet I insist on walking, working and running by my own strength and wisdom, can I turn around and blame God for the consequences of my actions? If His love is free, and He warns against rejecting Him, I have a personal decision to make. Please call sin by its name, so you are not deceived by its attractiveness and evasiveness. The consequences of failure are eternal. 

It also then means that all who accept this free gift of God place themselves in a position where they can access all that God is. If I am self-sufficient, there is no room for anyone or anything else. If I am full, it means that there is no room for anything else. As long as there is a need, there is always room for an infilling. The challenge then is for me to see myself as God sees me. Am I weak and faint, in need of God's strength? 

Interestingly, I note that God gives far more than I expect or imagine. He doesn't just supply what we think we need; He actually gives us all of Himself. If God is the Wisdom and Power of God, as well as the Strength of Israel, it means that what I get when I come to Him for help is actually all that He is. Pray, tell me, for the man who has NO might, what increase can God make out of this nothing? With man, it is impossible, but with God, there is no limit to the impact a surrendered heart and life can achieve. 

A man cannot give what he does not have, and a man cannot receive of God what he has not asked for. All I need for life and Godliness are tied up in Him, and in His hands, the most useless thing can become a mighty tool of great impact. What makes the difference isn't what the person does, but the One who is working through that person. It is in his hands that 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish can feed over 5,000 people and there will still be 12 baskets full of remnants. It is in His hands that a young man can sleep one night as a prisoner and the very next one as the prime minister of a foreign country. 

The same God who did it then is still very much in the business of empowering. Do I acknowledge my need, or am I so full of me that God has no room? The Almighty God, though all-powerful, won't force Himself on me, but you can be sure that there are eternal consequences to all decisions I take. What would it be for you: self-dependence or God-dependence? His time of favour is here.