Word of Encouragement (07/12/2022)

Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, “I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name....” (Ex. 15:1-3)

Here is a song of praise to God. Moses praises God for His victory over the Egyptian army: “I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.” After the Passover, in which all the firstborns, both of the Egyptians and their beasts, were killed, Pharaoh finally surrendered and compelled Moses and Israel to leave Egypt. But soon after, he regretted his decision—so deep is the sinfulness of man!—and he pursued the Israelites with his chariots. The LORD parted the Red Sea to provide an escape for His people. When the Egyptians followed them, the LORD closed the sea, drowning the Egyptians and their chariots. Having witnessed this amazing display of God’s power, Moses was inspired to sing this song of praise to God.

Having praised God for His mighty act, as it were, Moses goes on to praise God for who He is: “The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation....” How wonderful it is if we can call God “my strength”! There are two ways to be powerful: one is to develop our own strength through training; another is to have God as our strength. Which one do you prefer?

The first one is attractive. To have the strength and skills in ourselves to defend ourselves and complete difficult tasks must feel exhilarating—to feel your muscles wanting more as you exert yourself to do a challenging task or to get things done effortlessly because you have the know-how. But while human beings are capable of doing some amazing things, we are still finite beings, susceptible to all kinds of fatal accidents that can decapacitate us in the blind of an eye.

In this regard, we can see how the second option—to have God as our strength—is so much better. If the almighty God should be our strength, how powerful and secure we are! But this is a tricky thing. It may not give us the satisfaction of being strong in ourselves (at least, at the beginning). We may feel like a little kid, who has to run to his father when he is being bullied. But there is nothing wrong with that. We should strive to be stronger and more competent in what we do: leaning on God as our strength does not exclude this. But the truth is that the spiritual forces we are up against are much stronger than we are; there is no shame in leaning on the Lord; we have no hope of overcoming them apart from His help.

To have God as our strength is a double blessing. Not only do we gain the strength to protect us and make us victorious, but we also gain a relationship with the almighty God—“the LORD is my strength”! He is not just an impersonal power we can tap into; He, who gives us strength, is our God and our heavenly Father. He deigns to be our strength because He loves us: His strength for us emanates from His love. So, when trials come your way, look to your heavenly Father who loves you. Don’t just suffer alone. Pray. Prayer is our declaration of dependence on God, by which we experience the mighty strength of God for us!

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