Psalms 81:1 – Sing for joy to God our strength; shout joyfully to the God of Jacob. Singing and shouting joyfully are two characteristics of God’s children because they are moved by the work of the Lord in their lives and the resultant accomplishments. They are able to praise Him for He is their sole strength. He strengthens His children to face any situation with confidence and courage. It is not their own courage, but the courage granted to them by the Lord according to His measure. They are weak in their flesh, but He puts His strength even in their bodies. They are emotionally weak and are prone to discouragement and disillusionment, and so He fortifies them with His Spirit to feel confident in life. Their strength erodes day after day when they are tossed around by the changing wind of circumstances and unstable friends. So they are now able to sing for joy because the Lord who is the embodiment of true strength is there to empower them in all circumstances for what He wants them to accomplish in this life for His glory. When God is their strength, they are able to do any thing that the Lord wants them to do, and nothing seem to be impossible for them. They do it all in the power of God and not in their own strength or reasoning basically because they do not have any strength in themselves. They are also inclined to shout for joy because they are like Jacob with all problems and weaknesses in personality and behavior. But God is so pleased to be known after Jacob because God chose him even when He knew what kind of a man Jacob was. But God gave Jacob abundance of grace and chose him to be a link and a channel for the Lord Jesus to come into this world to save sinners. Jacob was a looser on many counts and his life was a series of failures. He had encountered an array of problems. But in spite of it all, the Lord used him and was pleased to be known as the God of Jacob. He has become our Lord too because He has chosen us for special purposes here on earth. If God strengthens us and if He considers us with compassion as in the case of Jacob, even our singing and shouting of praises comes from His power.
Dear friend, are you a strong person or a weak individual? Do you think that you need to be empowered by the Lord so that He could use you totally for His glory? His power through His Spirit is available for genuine asking. If we seek Him, we will certainly find Him. He has asked us to seek His face and guaranteed full success. He strengthens only those who admit to Him that they are weak and heavy laden. He soothes the broken hearted and the down trodden when they admit their infirmities to Him in utter humility. He makes the weak among His flock to accomplish great things for Him if they surrender themselves to Him, and He has a pattern of using the weakest to accomplish mightiest things for Him. He gives them the capacity to trust Him to attempt things in life for His glory. They can do all things through Him because He strengthens them. They have the comfort that the God who used Jacob could use them also because the Lord has enough grace to extend to all of us who are weak and experience failures. He is the God of the second chance and gives us opportunities again and again to attempt great things by faith and live a life of spiritual adventure. When His people attempt things by faith and trust in Him, even before they accomplish things, they are able to give glory to the Lord for working in and through them. So all through the process of doing things for the Lord, they would be able to sing and shout for joy by faith. All that they do culminate in praising God who is the strength and power behind all that they do. So dear friend, there is no need for you to doubt and get into confusion about going the way of the Lord. The world around you might mock you and call you names because of what you attempt for the Lord. But there is no need for you to be discouraged. Just as the servant of Prophet Elisha saw fiery chariots and heavenly soldiers fortifying His children, we are able to believe that the heavenly forces are around us to strengthen and protect us in our weaknesses and infirmities of various kinds. The Lord is with us in our weaknesses even today to accomplish His purpose in and through us with His power. So let us rejoice in Him and His ways. Let us shout and sing songs of praise to the Lord who strengthens us for exceedingly great things by faith in Him.
Psalms 46:1 – God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Thought for TodayWhen God works in and through us, we can shout for joy today for what He accomplishes in us in our yesterdays, todays and tomorrows.
