Go In God’s Strength & Do What Needs To Be Done!

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘…but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.’ (Isaiah 40:31)

The movie ‘Groundhog’s Day‘, with Bill Murray playing a news reporter that finds himself in a continual loop of the day repeating itself over and over. I find myself, and I’m certain many of you as well, in that same cycle, the days seem to be the same, over and over. Life is not all that the movies (except for ‘Groundhog’s Day‘) make it out to be.

It is not realistic to think you’ll be swinging off the Khalifa Tower in Dubai like Ethan Hunt in ‘Mission: Impossible‘, or go on some great adventure that takes you to every glamourous location around the globe every day you’re alive.

This is not to say you won’t go on such travels, but for the average person we may do this for week or two, then return home (I doubt the sheikhs in Dubai will allow anyone but Tom Cruise to bounce around the outside of the world’s tallest building).

I have been fortunate enough early in my life to have traveled (never swinging from a tall building, however) literally around the world, but it was in spurts, and it wasn’t always glamourous – sometimes it was outright terrifying – but in most cases it fell into becoming a somewhat boring routine, or what I call ‘BLEH’.

We often start our day with the same old grind, even those blessed with the gift of retirement.  We get into ruts of ‘the same old same-old’ – the ‘BLEH’ we often experience.  The news of today is all BLEH; sports BLEH, economy BLEH, border BLEH – BLEH-BLEH-BLEH, work cycles over from BLEH to more BLEH, even perhaps our marriages, our diets, our routines are BLEH-BLEH-BLEH, if we’re not careful. 

It happens often as we age; we begin to slow down as our bodies begin to start wearing out. I often find myself having the mind of a 25-year-old me having the thoughts to do something, and in acting out the thoughts, usually well into the task, realize I have the body of a 61-year-old me, and end up feeling physically like an 85-year-old before I can complete the actions I was thinking I could accomplish. It is becoming easier and less painful not to act out those thoughts, but then that routine begins to be boring, or ‘BLEH’.

However, I still need to complete those tasks, both for the need to accomplish them and for me not to fall into idle ‘BLEH’. So while I may have the 25-year-old me creating those thoughts, I ask the Lord to provide me the wisdom to translate those thoughts into my 61-year-old brain and use His wisdom to tailor the efforts so the 61-year-old body can tackle those tasks without feeling too beat up, to give me the strength Isaiah 40:31 promises, and overcome the idleness of ‘BLEH’ and the fear of overdoing my physical limitations.

But Isaiah 40:31 is both a statement of hope and promise, as is many of the Lord’s ‘if/then’ statements.  If you Hope or have Faith in the Lord, then He will renew your strength.  This renewed strength is so you can overcome the BLEHs and restart anew, to find the ways to break the cycle of repetition, and find the new path to take out of the routine.  We can’t turn back time, but we can go forward in time in a new direction. 

We learned about Caleb in Joshua 14, where he was 85 years old but he didn’t want to simply retire to the ‘old Jewish retirement center’.  Instead he saw, as God promised, the Israelites take over the Promised Land, and now he went to Joshua to ensure he followed up with a renewed sense of vigor to take God’s promise that was made to him 45 years prior; ‘Give me them Hebron mountains!  I’m 85, but I’m ready to kick out those Canaanites and move in, because God promised that land to me!’ 

Caleb, despite being old, was renewed by taking on the new challenge through the power of the Lord, through the Hope and Faith he had in the Lord, that the Lord would keep that promise – and the Lord did! While Caleb was likely very much in optimal physical shape for an 85-year-old, he was still 85 years old.

I’m certain not only did the Lord provide him the strength to conquer the Hebron region, the Lord also likely gave Caleb the wisdom to do it within his physical limitations, and Caleb did not do it alone, but led his family and those who were with him to help in the taking of the land promised him – using God’s wisdom to lead them in the fight.

Don’t fall into the trap of BLEH, but instead fall into the promise that the Lord renews your strength and Spirit, and restarts your engines to go conquer what needs conquered!  With God, you can seize the day!