The Strength to Equal Today

One of my favorite Bible verses comes from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy. It's a blessing that Moses speaks over the Israelites. Part of the blessing is this, "The bolts of your gates will be iron and bronze, and your strength will equal your days." Deut. 33:25

The first time I read this verse, I felt deeply in my spirit that this was a blessing that God was granting me, as well. God offers His supernatural strength repeatedly to those who love and follow Him, but there was something about this verse that stayed with me. Living with a chronic illness means that my strength is often limited. This has been a frequent frustration for me. There are so many things that I want to do, and when my desires have to bend to my ability, it can be discouraging. The hope that God is offering, that my strength would equal my days, was especially poignant. God was sweetly addressing my need with a promise that whatever my days hold for me, He would give me the needed strength.

There is another side to this promise, that I would not receive strength to equal what is not supposed to be a part of my day. I often have to make choices about how to best spend my energy. Strength resources are not unlike financial resources. Not everything I want to spend my money on is a necessity. God is gracious to our family financially, and we are able to spend money on pleasures as well as necessities, but like everyone else I know, there are always limits. The same applies to my strength.

I believe that God has a plan for my life. To be honest, I don't know or understand many of the details of the plan. I do know the underlying mission - to love and follow God through Jesus Christ with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love others as I love myself. To serve God by serving others, using my God-given gifts and resources to meet needs and to pour God's love into the lives of others. And to enjoy this relationship with God and to live a loved life. I try to leave the details to God, and I appreciate that God has promised me the strength to follow Him every day.

I've been thinking a lot about what it means to follow God. For the next few days, I think I am going to be writing about this. I could get all ministerial and give a 5 point outline for tomorrow's blog entry, along with the titles and a lesson plan for the next week, but I'm not going to. One, I'm not a minister, so I don't have to. :P And two, I don't know the plan, so I simply can't. God has it all in hand. I'm just going to try to stay upright for the ride. And if I topple over, I plan to topple over into the arms of God. That's as far as my plan goes.

Until tomorrow, I am thanking God for the strength to equal today.