TUESDAY DECEMBER 1st
Ephesians 6:10-20
NIV (v10) – ‘Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.’
ESV (v10) – ‘Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.’
As we come to the end of our look in Ephesians, we come to this well-known section which is all about the armour of God. As Paul introduces this section, he reminds the believers to ‘be strong in the Lord’, as the NIV puts it ‘in his mighty power’ or the ESV, ‘the strength of his might’.
I used to enjoy watching the world’s strongest man on tv, and be amazed at the power they had, the might or strength they had built up through disciplined training, to see them pull a lorry unit or to lift stones and rocks that under normal circumstances would require mechanical help. Looking at them, you would think that they were invincible, nothing would ever be able to harm them or crush them, and although that might be seem true in the natural it certainly wouldn’t be so in the spiritual, and we may think that we are strong in so many ways, but left to our own devices and to our own physical strength we would never be able to stand against the wiles of the evil one.
The strength of the world’s strongest men is measured by how much they can lift or by how far they could pull something, they would lift or pull till they couldn’t muster up a single ounce of strength to do any more. Paul has already reminded the believers of how strong God is by saying that his strength is immeasurable, he could keep lifting up and pulling without ever getting weary or having to use his last ounce of strength, in fact the longer he lifts and pulls makes absolutely no difference to his strength for he cannot and will never weaken. From eternity past to eternity future his strength remains constant, the strength that threw the stars into space, is the strength that sustains the orbit of all that has been created and will be the same strength that will forever hold all things together by the power of his Word. Isaiah says, ‘Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.’ Psalm 147:5 ‘Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.’ And Paul commands or instructs us to ‘BE STRONG IN THE LORD AND IN THE STRENGTH OF HIS MIGHT’ In the same chapter in Isaiah mentioned above it continues ‘He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.’ (Isaiah 40:29-31)
Feeling weak, feeling spiritually anaemic, feeling powerless in the midst of your circumstances, the answer is found in our waiting upon the Lord, it is found in our being strong, not in our own strength but in the strength of the Lord, it is found as we are willing to put on the whole armour of God and we will briefly consider this tomorrow.
This last week I have needed to drill into the walls outside about 6 inches to be able attach a post to hang a garden gate from. I attempted it with my battery-operated drill which coped reasonably well, but not enough, I ended up borrowing our neighbours drill because it had a higher-powered battery, and it did it.
How often do we try to do things in our own strength when someone else has the power and strength to do it for us?