How Do You Spell Strength?

"How do you spell strength?"

"S - T - R - E - N - G - T - H"

Immediately my mind caught those words. It was as though something told my heart I would need them. It replayed in my head throughout the day. "How do you spell strength?"

Strength. It isn't a chain of letters spelling a word. It's more than that. And it's something to think about. 

strength

 noun \ˈstreŋ(k)th, ˈstren(t)th\

: the quality or state of being physically strong

: the ability to resist being moved or broken by a force

    --the power to resist attack; impregnability

    --the power to resist strain or stress; durability

: the quality that allows someone to deal with problems in a determined and effective way

: the ability to maintain a moral or intellectual position firmly

In the Bible, strength is always something attributed to God, not man, though man can receive it from God.

The Lord is my strength and my song. (Ex. 15:2a)

He guards the steps[a] of His faithful ones,
but the wicked perish in darkness,
for a man does not prevail by his own strength. (1 Sam. 2:9)

I love You, Lord, my strength. (Ps. 18:1)

The Lord is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. (Ps. 28:7a)

God is our refuge and strength,
a helper who is always found
in times of trouble. (Ps. 46:1)

But those who trust in the Lord
will renew their strength. (Is. 40:31a)

So he answered me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by strength or by might, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of Hosts. (Zech. 4:6)

I've been needing this a lot recently. To put it simply, yesterday may well have been one of the hardest days of my life. I needed strength--not physical strength, but God's strength. The strength to know what was right and to stick with it. The strength to be unmoved in my belief even when life seemed to crash down around me. The strength to keep moving even when it looks like the only way I could get where I was going was ripped out from beneath me. 

"How do you spell strength?"

You spell it hope. You spell it faith. You spell it look out around you because God's got this--even though you don't, and never could. You spell it keep on moving, because God's plan is bigger than this mess. And you spell it Jesus. He was hated, too. 

Yeah, that's right. "How do you spell strength?"

"J - E - S - U - S"