God is Your Physical Strength
“And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:17 ESV
“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” Hebrews 1:3a ESV
“In Him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:28 ESV
And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10b ESV
“I can do all things through him who strengthens me” Philippians 4:13 ESV
“For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.” Colossians 1:29 ESV
“For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” 1 Corinthians 4:7 NASB
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 ESV
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” Ephesians 6:10 ESV
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4b ESV
Upholds All Things
This began as a post on sleep and insomnia. Sleep has plagued me since I was in sixth grade and I’ve learned in adulthood how God has used it, both in my complaining and in my obedience, to teach me various truths. The truth that has stuck out to me recently has been the title of this post. My strength is not only in the amount of hours I slept last night, but it is spoken by God directly into my physical/spiritual/mental/emotional existence (Hebrews 1:3a). This can encourage us in almost every way. Every aspect of our lives is supplied directly by God in His “pleasing and perfect” will. (Romans 12:2) In the mystery of the Gospel, we and Christ live our lives simultaneously. I think we have confused the “mystery” of the Gospel to mean something similar to “spiritual and immaterial,” but because “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:13) we see that Christ is not confined outside the realm of the physical. God breathes out your physical strength and determines it. We also walk in wisdom as Christians, so this isn’t a call for passivity in our physical training, it is a call to understand Christ uses all our physical exercise, mental exercise, and spiritual exercises in His ordained way to strengthen us as His “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)
The Joy of The Lord
I misunderstood the passage in Nehemiah 8:10 that is commonly used as motivational and a catchy encouragement for believers, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” I read that as a joy that is in the person as they trust in the Lord. But we have reason to believe the Hebrew attributes this joy to God instead of the believer. Many scholars including the Puritan Matthew Henry interpret this way in his commentary on the passage. He states, “God takes pleasure in those who return to Him sincerely.” In other words, God’s joy causes our strength. We don’t need to try harder to be joyful thinking that if we don’t somehow feel that joy, we will not be strengthened. God’s joy is actually what strengthens us. This is help for all human experiences as we walk in obedience. God takes joy as your grieve with hope, as you wrestle with sin, and as you confess and repent. He keeps his Word through strengthening us as we obey him for the continued obedience. “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13) God both wills your strength in walking in obedience and works it, so that He is pleased. All glory and thanks go to Him for this “inexpressible gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15)
