“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
(Psalm 73:26 NIV)
Is Your Strength Failing?
Can you say with this psalmist from the heart, “my flesh and my heart have failed”?
Your body lacks energy and strength. You have no motivation. You aren’t slothful or lazy or neglecting responsibility, just tired inside and out and going through the motions with the little strength you have. You’re taking life one step at a time at a slow walk, wondering if you can go on. You have the desire to do good things, but your will won’t move you along any faster.
You long to run, but your walk looks more like a crawl. Or maybe you’re motionless. You’ve fallen, exhausted.
God Has Stored Up Strength for You
This is when we must go together into the storehouses of our heavenly Father. There is a room filled with rich blessings God has stored up for his children (Ephesians 1:3). For everyone who puts their faith in Jesus is not only delivered from their sins and from hell but is welcomed into the family of God and becomes an heir of all the spiritual blessings that belong to Jesus.
Were you to take inventory of these gifts, there would be too many to count. These gifts are not of this world, and are given to the heart, and so they are often unseen. But they are better gifts than any this world can offer. Let’s go open the doors and take one of those blessings out of the storehouse for you.
One blessing is the truth found in Psalm 73:26. Let’s call it strength.
You have nothing left and need to go on. This gift is for those whose bodies and hearts have failed them, and they are at the end of themselves. This gift is an experience the Lord delights to give you.
He will come to you and be for you what you cannot find in yourself. The strong shoulders of your Savior will come to lift you up and carry you onward. For, God promises all his children that when we trust in him, we will not be left to our own resources. We are not left with our own heart and will alone. There is another actor in our inner world. We have been given a strength outside ourselves, something for when our strength runs out—Someone. God himself shall be our strength when our body and heart fail.
God Promises to Be the Strength Your Heart Needs
God’s kids will fall exhausted in the race of faith. We will break down and weep, and we will make our beds in ashes, and may even drift off into sleep in the war.
But God will not leave us here, for he promises that when our strength and heart fail, he will be strong for us. He shall come to us. His strong arms will lift our drooping bodies and carry us onward. His hand shall lift us up from where we have fallen. His shoulders will bear up our wounded souls.
“For though the righteous falls seven times, they rise again…” (Proverbs 24:16 NIV), because we are not alone.
When Your Heart and Flesh Fail
If you have fallen exhausted, lay hold of this promise bought by the blood of Christ for you—stop looking inward for the power you need. Look up, and see the God who never grows weary, ready to be the strength of your heart. Ask him to carry you and resign yourself to his gentle and strong arms.
You do not need a strong heart; you need a strong God. And he is already here, already yours as you take hold of him by faith and let him scoop you up and carry you onward.