"Strength For The Journey"

"Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint: and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

Isaiah 40: 28-31

King James Version

 "Strength For The Journey"

"When God wants to move a mountain, He does not take a bar of iron, but He takes a little worm. The fact is, we have too much strength. We are not weak enough. It is not our strength that we want. One drop of God's strength is worth more than all the world."

Dwight L. Moody

What do I need God's strength for in my life today?

Can I remember a time in my life when I have been weary and God has given me strength for the journey?

"When we have, through Christ, obtained mercy for our persons, we need not fear but that we shall have suitable and seasonable help for our duties."

John Owen

   

 

"The way to grow strong in Christ is to become weak in yourself."

C. H. Spurgeon

            Over the past couple days, we have studied about the way our Father has planned a wondrous landscape for our lives - a pattern designed just for our unique abilities and talents. But not only has God laid out a design for our lives, then when He calls us and we follow Him, we will find that God has taken into account all that we are in His grand panorama for each of us. And as we follow His leading, not only will he guide us but He will give us strength for the journey and will lift us and carry us when we feel we will fall or when the trials we bear seem too heavy to carry.

            In the old-time hymn, "All The Way My Savior Leads Me," we find a beautifully penned script by Fanny Crosby, which outlines for us the way our Father carries us through the tragedies of our lives, even using the most painful events for our own blessing and the encouragement of others.

 

            The story of Fanny's early life is shared by Robert J. Morgan in Then Sings My Soul:

            "When Fanny was about six weeks old, her parents had realized with alarm that something was wrong with her eyes. The local doctor was away, but the Crosbys found a man - no one afterward recalled his name - who claimed to be a physician. He put hot poultice on the baby's inflamed eyes, insisting it would draw out the infection. The infection did clear up, but white scars appeared, and in the months that followed the baby registered no response to objects held before her. As it turned out, Fanny was not totally blind. Even in old age she could discern day from night. But her vision was gone.

            Yet this stimulated other gifts, such as her phenomenal memory. As a child, Fanny memorized whole sections of the Bible, including most of the Pentrateuch, the four Gospels, all of Proverbs, and vast portions of other books. Whenever she wanted to "read" a passage, she just turned there in her mental "Bible" and read it verbatim. 'This Holy Book,' she said when eighty-five, 'has nurtured my entire life.'

            Years later, Fanny viewed her blindness as a special gift from God, believing He had given her a particular "soul-vision" which equipped her for a special work. 'It was the best thing that could have happened to me,' she declared. 'How in the world could I have lived such a helpful life had I not been blind?'

            'Don't blame the doctor,' Fanny said on another occasion. 'He is probably dead by this time. But if I could meet him, I would tell him that he unwittingly did me the greatest favor in the world.'

            Though this hymn expressed Fanny Crosby's lifelong testimony, it was prompted by a specific incident in 1874. One day she didn't have enough money to pay her rent. Just as she committed the matter to God in prayer, a stranger appeared at her door and pressed a ten-dollar bill in her hand before disappearing. It was the very amount needed. That night, she wrote the words to "All the Way My Savior Leads Me.'"

            Our Father not only lays out a plan for us, His plan is specifically designed for us and then He replaces His strength for our weakness. He gives us His strength for our journey.

            His Strength

"And, as the path of duty is made plain,

May grace be given that I may walk therein,

Not like the hireling, for his selfish gain,

With backward glances and reluctant tread,

Making a merit of his coward dread-

But, cheerful, in the light around me thrown,

Walking as one to pleasant service led;

Doing God's will as if it were my own,

Yet trusting not in mine, but in His strength alone!"

John Greenleaf Whittier

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"All the way my Savior leads me;

What have I to ask beside?

Can I doubt His tender mercy,

Who thro' life has been my guide?

Heavenly peace, divinest comfort,

Here by faith in Him to dwell!

For I know, whatever befalls me,

Jesus doeth all things well!

All the way my Savior leads me,

Cheers each winding path I tread,

Gives me grace for every trial,

Feeds me with the living bread,

Though my weary steps may falter,

And my soul at thirst may be,

Gushing from the Rock before me,

Lo! A spring of joy I see."

Fanny Crosby

          Your friend,

                          Dorothy