The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Hosea 1:7,
"I will show love to the house of Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by the Lord their God."
The Lord told Israel he was going to save Judah, not by their strength, as measured in their bows, swords, horses and horsemen. As the Lord would bring on the destruction of the northern ten tribes through the agency of an aggressive military campaign by her enemies, Judah would be spared (at least for the time being) apart from their own effort in battle.
This brings to my mind the many things the Lord does for us. Often he does what he does without using whatever strengths we may feel we have.
Paul made an interesting observation about himself. He reflected on the fact that he had weaknesses, "I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses." 2 Corinthians 12:5. Relative to this he says the Lord had told him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Because of this Paul boasted of his weaknesses and delighted in them, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." Verses 9-10. His strength was in the Lord, what the Lord did in spite of his weaknesses.
Often it is the very canvas of our weakness the Lord paints his strength in our lives. I believe he does it to encourage us in him, to build up our faith in him and remind us of where the good things come from we have in him. Our inheritance in Jesus Christ is due to the strength and effort the Lord has exercised, not our own. Faith is not the stuff of work. It is the very opposite of work as Paul points out in Romans 9:30-32, "What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works." The Jews in Paul's day attempted to gain the promised inheritance in the resurrection through their own hard efforts. Paul points out that it is the gift of God, something he has wrought, and provided to those who embrace him in faith, not something folks obtain in their own strength, their own efforts.
As I consider my own salvation, I can't boast of my own efforts. I didn't have what it took to bring it about. But I certainly can boast about what the Lord has done for me! He brought it about, doing all the heavy lifting himself!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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