Thursday, July 31, 2014

Strength in Weakness (Excerpt from "Queen of the Home")

From the conclusion to Queen of the Home:

As you begin to grasp just how vitally important your role as the queen of your home is, it is easy to feel a bit overwhelmed. Building a nation, raising an army, training, guiding, guarding, loving, helping and nurturing—as well as changing diapers, washing dishes, wiping cute little noses, doing laundry and tending to a mind boggling array of other duties around the clock—is a tall order to fulfill. Isn’t this all just a bit too much to put on one person? Is it even possible to attain to all these high and lofty ideals? What if we have no idea how to begin?

Take heart! This is where we must remember that we cannot depend on our own strength to do this great work. We are weak, we grow weary, we are sinful, we get tired of laying down our lives for others (we just want to lay down and take a nap), and we can easily lose our vision (it got buried under all those piles of laundry). When discouragement begins to creep in and you feel like throwing in the towel (or, in this case, the crown) consider just a few of God's beautiful and sure promises:

My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. Psalm  73:26 
It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. Psalm 18:32 
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. Psalm 18:2 
He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Isaiah 40:29
What does it really mean though to look to Him for strength? How do we find rest when we grow so weary?  What about those days where we feel like we really have given our all, but still have to keep on giving? It sounds wonderful, but how does this actually play out  in the day to day whirlwind?

I was pondering this myself one day; wondering particularly how “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10) actually worked. I opened up my Bible to Proverbs 16:20 and found my answer: “Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.” 


Our strength comes from our joy in the Lord and our joy in the Lord comes from our trust in Him. When we truly trust the Lord then we rest in Him, and no longer rely on our own strength but on Him to hold us up and carry us. Eureka!


It is trust in God and what He says in His Holy Word that keeps our hope and vision alive; without it we lose our purpose and our way. Trust is what causes us to cry out to Him for help and sees Him answer in all the little details. This is where we can find delight and peace and joy like we've never known. This is what we fall back on and what pushes us forward. Our trust in Him strengthens us to obey Him and our obedience leads to even greater trust. It is confidence in Him that undergirds us and gives us a sure foundation on which we can stand even when the winds blow hard. When we are built on the Rock (Matt. 7:24) He holds us up even (and especially) when we come to the end of ourselves.


If we could rise to this high calling in our own strength we would not learn to depend on the Lord the way we do when we fall exhausted at His feet—and when we learn to depend on Him, then we also glorify Him. Instead of patting ourselves on the back and feeling satisfied with our wonderful accomplishments we point to our faithful God and know the only reason we accomplish anything is by His grace and mercy.
As daughters of the King of Kings may we rule honorably and well our little corners of His Kingdom.  Let us keep our eyes fixed firmly on our Heavenly Father and His Word. Though to the world our heads may look bare, may we earn and wear the crown of glory promised to those who seek wisdom and faithfully persevere:

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. Proverbs 4:7
May we never forget the might and power of our calling and our utter dependence on our Heavenly King to fulfill it.

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