Your Daily Slice

 

TEVET 23

My Strength

 

“…but the people who know their Elohim shall be STRONG …” (Dan 11:32 ISR, emphasis mine)

 

Many of us are familiar with the account of David and Goliath, the shepherd boy who killed the nine foot plus giant with only his slingshot, and his faith in his Elohim and Creator.  David is a perfect illustration of a young man – Bible scholars estimate he was around 17 years of age at the time of this event – who intimately knew his God, his Elohim.  David’s God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, had delivered him from the lion and the bear (1Sam 17:37), and David had full confidence in all future deliverance.  David went on to reject the offer of Saul’s heavy armor, went out to face the giant with five smooth stones, in the ‘strength’ he received from El Gibbor, the MIGHTY God (see Isa 9:6).  David’s God confirmed what David knew – that he served an Elohim that would never fail him.

“Then David said to the Philistine, “You are coming to me with a sword, a spear and a javelin, but I am coming to you IN THE NAME OF Adonai-Tzva’ot, God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. THIS VERY DAY Adonai will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and take your head off you, and I will give the carcasses of the Philistines’ camp today to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth. Then all the earth will KNOW that there is a God in Israel, and so all this assembly will know that Adonai delivers not with sword and spear—for the battle belongs to Adonai—and He will give you into our hands.” (1Sam 17:45-47 TLV, emphasis mine)

What strength, whose strength, do you rely upon?  Physical strength is temporal, and emotional and mental strength is at best unstable.  Do you rely on the strengths of others?  How many times have you been disappointed, and hurt, with no one to turn to?  It is when you are at your weakest, at your lowest, that you are at your strongest, for that is when there is no question of where your help is coming from:  your Abba Father, your Creator, your Redeemer and Deliverer, the ALL-mighty, the Everlasting, Eternal Elohim.

First, you must know Him, before you can appropriate His Strength.  When you spend time in His presence, in His Word, you learn who He is, of His love for you, His care for and about you.  Then you learn of His strength in and through you, and the confidence you can have IN His strength …

 

“Adonai is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will glorify Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.” (Ex 165:2 TLV)

“All flesh is grass, all its goodness like flowers of the field: grass withers, flowers fade when the breath of the Lord blows on them.  Indeed man is but grass:  grass withers, flowers fade – BUT THE WORD OF OUR GOD IS ALWAYS FULFILLED!” (Isa 40:6-8 Jewish Study Bible, Tanakh Translation, ©2004 Oxford University Press.  Emphasis mine)

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