We all have our own view of what we think true strength looks like. To be honest it does have several different meanings because showing strength has a variety of aspects to this life. True strength from a human’s point of view can look like: a child who is fighting a childhood disease that would destroy most adults; any person who is fighting the different diseases in this life; people who run into danger for the sole purpose to save another person’s life; a person who lives their life the way they think it should be lived; a person who is strong in body, mind and character; and the list continues on. Are these true strengths? Are these true human strengths? Or is a true human strength seen as someone who tells the truth even though they will feel the repercussions of their decision? Is true human strength someone who loves another person with all of themselves and is willing to put themselves out there for that other person to possibly love them back? These “strengthens” are feelings instead of actions. So what does true strength look like to you? What would you define as true strength? Do we even understand what true strength is?

I ask this question because I think we don’t have the desire to have the ability to understand true strength as God defines it. We understand things with a degree of laziness if you will. We are willing to understand to a certain point but not beyond that point so we don’t have to make any changes in our lives according to the knowledge we obtain. Let me explain: most of us know the event about Moses, the Israelites, Pharaoh’s army and the Red Sea. For those who do not know I’ll give a summary: Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, held the Israelites in bondage as the Egyptian’s slaves for around 450 years. God sent Moses to speak before Pharaoh to let God’s people go. There are many things which took place in order to convince Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. Such as the 10 plagues that effected Egypt, Pharaoh’s heart being hardened and the mocking of God, Moses and the Israelites. After much hardship, Pharaoh begrudgingly accepted the terms and let the Israelites leave Egypt with all of their possessions. As Moses led them out, free from the chains of bondage at last, they travelled through the countryside towards the Red Sea. Pharaoh had a change of heart then he and his army went after them. God’s protection was with them as He knew Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. God in all His glory placed a pillar fire behind them by night and a cloud by day. The cloud guided them, the fire kept Pharaoh at bay. When they got to the Red Sea the people were angry with Moses, asking why did you bring us out here to die! They saw their problem but they couldn’t see the strength of the Lord until…..God told Moses to stretch forth his staff over the Red Sea. When Moses listened to God, God with true strength parted the Red Sea. Not only did He part the depths of the water, He also caused all the animal life to part with the water so none would be lost. Not only did He remove all of the water from the sea bed so that His people could walk across on dry ground but He dried it to the point that their carts, wagons, flocks of sheep, lambs, and cattle would not get stuck in the mud, because there wasn’t any mud. They would have never made it across if God had left the water in the sea bed, but because of His true strength God saw every single aspect that was needed and provided for His people completely. His strength was shown as He provided the way for their exodus, as He provided the path by which they would travel, as He provided the protection from the enemy that sought after them, as He made a way where they saw no way of escape from their certain doom, as He resolved the need at hand, as He saw there could be other issues therefore He handled them before there was an issue. You see the true strength I see is that God saw all aspects of the problem that the Israelites had, would have and did have. God resolved it all. Problems they were currently going through, the problems they would go through and the problems that could happen. He left nothing to chance. By His true strength God provided absolutely everything necessary. If we have complete understanding of this then we would have to make changes to our lives that would reflect God’s strength in our own lives.

You know He does the exact same for us on a daily basis but we refuse to see His strength. Instead we question Him and the path in our life the He has given us. You wanna know true strength? Look to God, who stood by and allowed mankind to treat His only begotten Son like garbage. He sent Jesus to live as man, with mankind and among the evil of this world, because He loves us so much. He sent Jesus knowing He would be rejected, spat upon, His beard pulled, punched, smacked, falsely accused, judged while innocent, whipped without mercy, made to carry His own cross after being beaten to the point He was unrecognizable (can you imagine how exhausted He had to be), stripped of His clothes in order to disgrace Him, nailed to a wooden cross through His precious hands which days ago the people were flocking to so they could be healed and touched by those same hands, pierced through His humble feet – feet that walked every mile so we all could go free. Yes without a doubt if you want to know what true strength is…it is God. God showed such strength as He restrained Himself from simply destroying us all. Jesus showed true strength as He, being the Son of God, could have called 10,000 angels down and put a stop to it all. The Holy Ghost showed true strength as He witnessed within Jesus and God the full force of the feelings They held as God watched His Son take on the sins of the world and He had to turn away from Him, and as Jesus not only felt the weight of the beating and piercing of the nails, not only the weight of the devil telling Him see these people don’t love You why continue to give so much for them, and not only the weight of the sins of the world but He felt all of these things and so much more that we cannot comprehend. So if you are looking to this world to show you true strength, you will probably be disappointed or only physically satisfied. If you are looking to God for true strength that thirst will be fully satisfied within your soul, mind, body and spirit because you’ll realize that only true strength can be found in Christ, God and the Holy Ghost… the Holy Trinity. When we fully understand in our hearts the true strength through the cross then we are compelled to make changes in our lives which again reflect God’s strength.

Lord God Almighty, I want to Thank You for the true strength You showed on Mt Calvary while Your Son Jesus hung on that old rugged cross. Because if for a moment You had refused to show strength then I would be lost. You are the perfect, loving God who is strong, mighty, protective of Your people, a provider, and a friend to me. Thank You for the strength shown over and over within Your Word to teach Your people that we can rely on You at all times for everything. You protect Your people, we have nothing to fear. You always provide a way of escape when Pharaoh’s army is trailing behind us (when satan sends an enemy to defeat us). You will always part of waters of defeat and allow us to walk on dry ground when we follow Your path. You never leave any “water” for us to get stuck in, just like the Israelites and Moses. I have so much to Thank You for Lord! I can see clearly how You have always shown Your true strength in mine and Matt’s life. Oh how I love you! Please forgive me for the times I’ve allowed the mind games of the devil to tell me that You won’t protect me. That I should give up or that I am not good enough for the task at hand. I am a daughter of the King and a joint heir to my Savior! I CAN do all things through Christ which Strengthens me!!