“Thy God hath commanded thy strength: strengthen, O God, that which thou has wrought for us” (Psalm 68 :28).
The Lord imparts unto us that primary strength of character which makes everything in life work with intensity and decision. We are “…strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man” (Ephesians 3: 16). And the strength is continuous; reserves of power come to us which we cannot exhaust.
“The Lord is my strength” to go on. He gives us power to tread the dead level, to walk the long lane that seems never to have a turning, to go through those long reaches of life which afford no pleasant surprise, and which depress the spirits in the sameness of a terrible drudgery.
“The Lord is my strength” to go up. He is to me the power by which I can climb the difficult hill and not be afraid.
“The Lord is my strength” to go down. It is when we leave the bracing heights, where the wind and the sun have been about us, and when we begin to come down the hill into closer and more sultry spheres, that the heart is apt to grow faint.
“The Lord is my strength” to sit still. And how difficult is the attainment! Do we not often say to one another, in seasons when we are compelled to be quiet, “If only I could do something!” To do nothing, just to sit still and wait, requires tremendous strength.
“The Lord is my Strength!”