Without Strength

“I call to You from the ends of the earth when my heart is without strength. Lead me to the rock that is high above me.” (Psalm 61:2)

I have a friend, a missionary colleague from Texas. He was deep in the throes of Japanese language study, and I could see the stress etched in his face. I asked him how it was going, and he responded with a Texas idiom, “Well, I’m kind of feeling rode hard and put up wet.” For those not from Texas, that’s a horse thing. When a horse is ridden hard, its sweat literally become lather. If the horse it put up in the barn without being brushed down, not only will its muscles be sore from the ride, but all that lather dries hard, so that the horse can get almost contorted. This is similar to another Southern idiom: “stove up.” The idea in both is that we can go and go and go until we get tired or sick and just feel like we don’t have much strength left in us, if any.

Sometimes folks feel a little like David did: calling to God from the ends of the earth. People can be overcome by a sense of isolation or loneliness, or they can find themselves in a state of weakness where they feel separated from the strength that comes from the Lord. Thus David says that when his heart is without strength he calls to the Lord from the ends of the earth, and he does so because he know the Lord cares and that the Lord will provide strength. So he asks the Lord then to lead him to the rock that is high above, where there will be safety and nearness to God and time to gain strength.

If you are feeling somewhat weak, know that you can call to the Lord, from wherever you are, and experience His strength.

Lord, Thank You for the reminder from Your word today that our strength comes from You, and all we need to do is call to You. Amen.