Strength in Weakness

Rambling thoughts as the first week of chemo is done!  I awoke at 3am and was pleasantly surprised to find that my extreme nausea had gone down to queasiness.  Then I decided to get up and face the day and realized that I was as weak as a newborn kitten;  no, I think even a kitten had more strength than I did this am.  I found it very frustrating to be able to get up for ten minutes and then have to collapse in the bed.  Now, I must admit that I should have been prepared for this being a former oncology nurse and having gone through chemo in the past (I must have been repressing it).  This was the correct day for the chemicals fighting the good and bad cells in my body to wreck their havoc and start dropping my blood counts.  It made me think on how helpless we are in our weakness.  I cannot make my blood counts go up, as much as I wish I could.   II Corinthians 12:10 came to my mind, a verse spoken about the thorn in Paul's side, but one that I think has meaning for me;  "For when I am weak, then I am strong."  This is a reminder to me that despite my human weaknesses, God's grace attains His purposes.   Then I was reminded in today's sermon on perseverance how trials remind us how dependent we are on the Lord.   "The Lord is very compassionate and merciful" as James 5:11 says, and I must never lose sight of that.

Strength equal to the day

(Theodore Cuyler, "Beulah-Land" or, Words of Cheer for Christian Pilgrims)

"Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today." Matthew 6:34

Faith does not shed tears over sorrows which may never come. God never made a Christian strong enough to stand the strain of today's duties--and all the load of tomorrow's anxieties piled upon the top of them. The apostle Paul himself would have broken down, if he had attempted the foolish experiment. We have a right to ask our Heavenly Father for strength equal to the day--but we have no right to ask him for one extra ounce of strength beyond it! Faith . . .

  carries present loads,

  meets present battles,

  feeds on present promises, and

  commits the future to a faithful God!

We should not penetrate into the secrets which tomorrow hides--if we could. It is far better to know Whom we trust, and that He is able to keep all that we commit to Him, until the last great day.

We cannot live on yesterday's meals. As the children of Israel gathered fresh manna every morning--so must we look upward for a fresh supply of heavenly rations for the day's march. The secret of happy days is not in our outward circumstances--but in our own heart life. A large draught of Bible taken every morning, a throwing open of the soul's windows to the precious promises of the Master, a few words of fervent prayer, a deed or two of kindness to the first person you meet--will brighten your countenance and make your feet "like hinds feet" for the day's march.

PSALM 146 was the inspiration for Isaac Watts (1674-1748) who wrote this hymn.

I’ll praise my Maker while I’ve breath;

And when my voice is lost in death,

Praise shall employ my nobler powers.

My days of praise shall ne’er be past,

While life, and thought, and being last,

Or immortality endures.

Happy the man whose hopes rely

On Israel’s God! He made the sky,

And earth, and sea, with all their train.

His truth forever stands secure;

He saves the oppressed, he feeds the poor,

And none shall find his promise vain.

The Lord gives eyesight to the blind;

The Lord supports the fainting mind;

He sends the labouring conscience peace;

He helps the stranger in distress,

The widow and the fatherless,

And grants the prisoner sweet release.

I’ll praise him while he lends me breath;

And when my voice is lost in death,

Praise shall employ my nobler powers;

My days of praise shall ne’er be past,

While life, and thought, and being last,

Or immortality endures.