The Strength of My Life

“The LORD is the strength of my life.”—Psalm 27:1b

Sometimes in my Bible reading a portion of Scripture jumps off the page in such a way I can feel God is saying to me, “Child, this is for you.”

Trusting God seems to be a recurring idea lately as I read God’s Word. It’s as if the garden of my heart has so many weeds of doubt that have grown up over the years, that God, through His Word, is slowly removing those weeds and replacing them with the seeds of His truth, namely that I can trust Him.

When I talk about the problems of life with fellow believers, we inevitably conclude that we don’t know how non-believers go through the pains of life without Jesus. That’s not to say Christians are immune to challenging times, but we know we have a God in Heaven Who whispers to our hearts that He is our strength when we do. We don’t face hard times alone.

Sometimes, He doesn’t whisper. It’s as if He has to shout, lovingly so, over the noise of our worries, “Child, don’t you know I will never leave you nor forsake you? Don’t you know my shoulders are large enough to carry your burdens, your worries, so you can stand tall and be confident in Me, not your own strength, not your own circumstances? Don’t you know how much I love you? Come with me for a while and let’s ponder the cross together. See what I did for you there? It is finished, my child. And although you can’t see Me, I sit beside My Father—our Father—in Heaven and pray for you. I love you. Always.”

And in this conversation with my heart, Jesus reminds me in this passage above that He is not just my strength, but the strength of my life. That is, my entire being can and should rest in Him and Him alone.

I take comfort in this precious seed of truth and pray it grows more and more until I can clearly see Him as He is.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia (2000)