It is God who arms me with strength, And makes my way perfect. Ps 18:32 (NKJV)
Wrapped in Power – Armed With Strength Series – Part 2
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5
Psalm 18:32 in the Passion Translation (search for it on Amazon, it's beautiful) says, “You have wrapped me in power, now you share with me your perfection.”
Wrapped in power. What a beautiful picture that paints in my mind! I think of how I swaddled my babies when they were newborns, or how I wrap my arms around them now as young children. I picture the blankets I have rolled up in a basket at the end of my couch and how on a cold winters night I get them out and wrap myself up in them. Surrounded, held, covered.
Wrapped in power. Armed with strength.
God created us in strength and with strength.
We were made by strength itself who placed the seeds of strength into our developing bodies. We have strength, and the potential for it, hardwired into our being. We all have tendencies towards certain strengths, whether it be academic, athletic, muscular, emotional, psychological, creative, relational… And no matter what area we are naturally strong in, in everything, we can increase strength through repetition, exercise and practice. We can even build strength into the areas we are not naturally strong in. You have the ability within you to be strong and to cultivate strength.
You have been armed with it. It might need some exercising and a little practice, but it is within you. Dig it out, dust it off, and give it a go.
But it is also a strength to know your limitations, to recognise your weaknesses and to reach out and ask for help. God wraps us up in divine strength, filling up our weaknesses, warming up our stone cold, fearful blood, and rejuvenating our spirits. How do we access this gift of strength? Grace. There’s not a magic prayer you can pray, or a declaration loud enough, or hype energetic enough to deliver strength to you. God’s strength is a gift given by loved, received by grace. And for me, most of the time, I can only find this strength in the presence of the Divine. When I cease my striving and my quiet my panic and just BE. Contemplative. Still. Quiet. Pray. Breathe. Strength.
Humility is the ultimate strength. This goes against what so many of us are taught by our cultures. Strength is usually associated with winning, achieving, dominating, conquering, outsmarting, being richer and wiser and ahead of the rest.
But the strength of God looks more like weakness. It's humble and peaceful. It doesn’t puff itself up or shut down its adversaries. The strength of Christ wasn’t in his ability to take himself down off the cross, but that he went all the way through with it.
Perhaps the strength that we have been armed with and wrapped up in isn’t the kind that overpowers and dominates others and our circumstances. But it's the kind of strength that enlivens our weaknesses, empowers us to sit with our complexities (and those of others) with humility and vulnerability; to look into the eyes of our neighbours, our accusers, our enemies and see value and love and light.
If you need strength, ask God for it. But don’t expect it to come in the grand and the obvious, don't expect to topple your foes and vanquish your enemies in one fell swoop! It will come to you in the form of humility, wrapped up in grace, armed with peace. The kind of strength that opens your eyes rather than turns them red with anger and vengeance, and enables you to SEE that even in your weakness, you are, indeed, strong.
How do you recognise your limitations? Leave us a comment below.
Go to Part 3 – Habakkuk and Hind's Feet »
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