God
is my strength and power, and He makes my way perfect.
2
Samuel 22:33 NKJV
For
the past few months I have finally begun to get serious about
learning Hebrew, which has always been something I wanted to do, but
sadly lacked the motivation to make a serious attempt at. It must
have something to do with my belief that our time is running out that
I am finally trying to get a head start and learn this language
before I get to Heaven.
I
know I have mentioned before the number of people I hear from and
about that are tired and hurting right now and trying to deal with
all manner of things in their lives. I know we have talked in the
past about how to cope with the struggles we encounter in our walk
with God, but this week I learned a few things while studying the
Hebrew name for God that really encouraged me, so I would like to
share that with you today in the hope it will possibly be of help to
you as well.
I
couldn’t tell you how many times in my life I have made the mistake
of trying to do or fix something under my own power without allowing
God to do it for me. I call it a mistake because invariably I would
mess up and discover it was beyond my ability to fix resulting in my
having to call on Him anyway. In this passage from Samuel we are
reminded that God is the one who has the strength and power to smooth
the bumps in the road we are sure to encounter on our walk with Him.
So what follows is a short summary of some of what I learned this week.
God.
(El ) The one we need to call on is
God, no one or nothing else. We are introduced to the name of God
in the very first verse in the Bible which I am sure all of us are
familiar with. There we are told God, Elohim, created the heavens
and the earth. Elohim is a three part word in Hebrew with El
meaning might, strength, and power, Oh
which means to keep an oath, and Im,
which makes the word plural. So in the very first verse in the
Bible we learn that our God is all powerful, all faithful, and as
explained later exists as God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Spirit.
is
my strength (maowz) This word
means a place of safety, or a stronghold that can be defended. This
certainly wasn’t what I expected when I read the word strength,
because like most of us I figured it simply meant power or the
strength to defend myself. What it really means is that rather than
trying to somehow do it ourselves, we need to go straight to God and
let Him defend us. How often do we go to God last rather than going
to Him first?
and
power (chayil)
Now we get to the real power that helps us cope with what comes
against us. This word means more than just power and strength, but
also the ability to force the powers that come against us to retreat.
God has whatever it takes to defeat any problem that we may
encounter in our walk with Him. Have you ever had a problem you
thought God could not fix? Ever struggle with a problem you thought
God might not have an answer to? There is nothing in this world that
God does not have the ability to overcome.
And
he maketh (nathar) This
is the word in this verse I just love. It literally means to make
something leap or jump, and shake or tremble with fear. Have you
ever watched a movie where the bad guys are chasing the good guys and
they turn the corner and come face to face with the hero? You name
it, Batman, Spiderman, Iron Man, Arnold the Terminator, when the bad guys come face to face with them they just
lose it and jump and run the other way. The picture here is that
when we encounter anything in our lives that would give us trouble,
if we but run to God and hide behind Him whatever it is that is
chasing us will literally jump and run the other way when faced with
the power of our God.
My
way (derek) This
word describes our
way as a road, or journey through the course of our lives. The idea
I get here is that although we often feel like we are wandering
aimlessly or made a serious wrong turn that results in our
encountering troubles, the truth is that God not only knows where we
are, He also has the power to smooth the bumps and point us in the
direction we should go. Have you ever thought about how often the
word follow is used in the Bible? You see, if we follow God we will
find the journey is a whole lot smoother than when we try to run on
ahead.
Perfect
(tamiym)
The word
perfect here is used in the sense of being complete or whole, not
perfect as we often think of it as nothing bad or just exactly as we
want it. So often we look at our lives from the perspective of what
will make me
happy
rather than what might make God happy. If we allow God to lay out
the path we follow then our lives will be perfect in the sense of
being complete according to the purpose God has for us to accomplish
His purpose. My personal feeling is that the perfect life is one
where we can stand before the Father and hear Him say “well done my
good and faithful servant”.
So
after all of this, here is what this verse says to me;
God
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all powerful and faithful, is where
I should run when troubled because He has the strength and ability to
make whatever is persecuting me to jump and run the other way
allowing me to get on with walking the path God has set before me in
order to finish the work He has for me.
It's
easy to become discouraged and tired when this life seems to pile up
on us, but the one thing we can always depend on is a God who already
knows what we are struggling with and has provided just what we need
to move past it. If you find yourself in that position today I
encourage you to think about this verse, and especially about the
power in His name.
And
we know that all things work together for good to those who love God,
to those who are the called according to [His] purpose.
Romans
8:28 NKJV
"Behold,
I [am] the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for
Me?
Jeremiah
32:27 NKJV
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