Strengthening the Hands By Mark Mayberry 9/4/2016 INTRODUCTION Sacred Scripture oft affirms the need of individuals to strengthen their arms, hands, knees, and/or feet. Jehovah protects and provides for His people, girding them with strength, setting them securely upon the high places, training them for battle, upholding them with His right hand (Psa. 18:30 36). Psalm 18:30 36 (NASB95) 30 As for God, His way is blameless; The word of the Lord is tried; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him. 31 For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God, 32 The God who girds me with strength And makes my way blameless? 33 He makes my feet like hinds feet, And sets me upon my high places. 34 He trains my hands for battle, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. 35 You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, And Your right hand upholds me; And Your gentleness makes me great. 36 You enlarge my steps under me, And my feet have not slipped. In the Daleth division of Psalm 119, an acrostic poem where each section begins with a subsequent letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the author calls on God from despondency and despair, saying My soul weeps because of grief; strengthen me according to Your word (Psa. 119:25 32, esp. v. 28). Psalm 119:25 32 (NASB95) 25 My soul cleaves to the dust; Revive me according to Your word. 26 I have told of my ways, and You have answered me; Teach me Your statutes. 27 Make me understand the way of Your precepts, So I will meditate on Your wonders. 28 My soul weeps because of grief; Strengthen me according to Your word. 29 Remove the false way from me, And graciously grant me Your law. 30 I have chosen the faithful way; I have placed Your ordinances before me. 31 I cling to Your testimonies; O Lord, do not put me to shame! 32 I shall run the way of Your commandments, For You will enlarge my heart. Psalm 138:1 3 (NASB95) 1 I will give You thanks with all my heart; I will sing praises to You before the gods. 2 I will bow down toward Your holy temple And give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word according to all Your name. 3 On the day I called, You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul. OUR STRENGTH COMES FROM THE LORD After being delivered from Egyptian slavery, Moses and the sons of Israel sang, The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation (Exod. 15:1 4, esp. v. 2). Exodus 15:1 4 (NASB95) 1 Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and said, I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; The horse and its rider He has hurled into
the sea. 2 The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; My father s God, and I will extol Him. 3 The Lord is a warrior; The Lord is His name. 4 Pharaoh s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; And the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea. Isaiah affirms, The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired He gives strength to the weary and those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength, mounting up with wings like eagles, running without getting tired, walking but not becoming weary (Isa. 40:27 31). Isaiah 40:27 31 (NASB95) 27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, My way is hidden from the Lord, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God? 28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. 29 He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. 30 Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, 31 Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary. This is well illustrated in the life of Nehemiah, the governor of Judah, during the days of the restoration. Leading Israel in rebuilding the defenses of Jerusalem, he faced many trials, including distractions, false reports, and intimidating threats from Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and their supportive false prophets, etc. Yet, Nehemiah remained focused upon the task, was perceptive regarding the true intent of his enemies, and prayed, But now, O God, strengthen my hands (Neh. 6:1 16, esp. v. 9). Nehemiah 6:1 16 (NASB95) 1 Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, to Geshem the Arab and to the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall, and that no breach remained in it, although at that time I had not set up the doors in the gates, 2 then Sanballat and Geshem sent a message to me, saying, Come, let us meet together at Chephirim in the plain of Ono. But they were planning to harm me. 3 So I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you? 4 They sent messages to me four times in this manner, and I answered them in the same way. 5 Then Sanballat sent his servant to me in the same manner a fifth time with an open letter in his hand. 6 In it was written, It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel; therefore you are rebuilding the wall. And you are to be their king, according to these reports. 7 You have also appointed prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem concerning you, A king is in Judah! And now it will be reported to the king according to these reports. So come now, let us take counsel together. 8 Then I sent a message to him saying, Such things as you are saying have not been done, but you are inventing them in your own mind. 9 For all of them were trying to frighten us, thinking, They will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done. But now, O God, strengthen my hands. 10 When I entered the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined at home, he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you, and they are coming to kill you at night. 11 But I said, Should a man like me flee? And could one such as I go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in. 12 Then I perceived that surely God had not sent him, but he uttered his prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 He was hired for this reason, that I might 2
become frightened and act accordingly and sin, so that they might have an evil report in order that they could reproach me. 14 Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these works of theirs, and also Noadiah the prophetess and the rest of the prophets who were trying to frighten me. 15 So the wall was completed on the twenty fifth of the month Elul, in fifty two days. 16 When all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations surrounding us saw it, they lost their confidence; for they recognized that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. WE SHOULD STRENGTHEN OURSELVES AND OUR BRETHREN Consider the example of the worthy woman, who girds herself with strength and makes her arms strong (Prov. 31:17), and the exhortations of the prophet Isaiah to encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble and Awake, awake, clothe yourself in your strength, O Zion (Isa. 35:3 4; 52:1 2). Proverbs 31:17 (NASB95) 17 She girds herself with strength And makes her arms strong. Isaiah 35:3 4 (NASB95) 3 Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. 4 Say to those with anxious heart, Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you. Isaiah 52:1 2 (NASB95) 1 Awake, awake, Clothe yourself in your strength, O Zion; Clothe yourself in your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; For the uncircumcised and the unclean Will no longer come into you. 2 Shake yourself from the dust, rise up, O captive Jerusalem; Loose yourself from the chains around your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. Let us heed the admonition offered to the Hebrew disciples to strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed (Heb. 12:1 13, esp. vv. 12 13). Hebrews 12:1 13 (NASB95) 1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him; 6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives. 7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of 3
righteousness. 12 Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. WE SHOULD NOT STRENGTHEN EVILDOERS Among the horrors committed by the wayward prophets of Jerusalem, Jeremiah said, They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one has turned back from his wickedness (Jer. 23:13 24, esp. v. 14). Jeremiah 23:13 24 (NASB95) 13 Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray. 14 Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: The committing of adultery and walking in falsehood; And they strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one has turned back from his wickedness. All of them have become to Me like Sodom, And her inhabitants like Gomorrah. 15 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets, Behold, I am going to feed them wormwood And make them drink poisonous water, For from the prophets of Jerusalem Pollution has gone forth into all the land. 16 Thus says the Lord of hosts, Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; They speak a vision of their own imagination, Not from the mouth of the Lord. 17 They keep saying to those who despise Me, The Lord has said, You will have peace ; And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, They say, Calamity will not come upon you. 18 But who has stood in the council of the Lord, That he should see and hear His word? Who has given heed to His word and listened? 19 Behold, the storm of the Lord has gone forth in wrath, Even a whirling tempest; It will swirl down on the head of the wicked. 20 The anger of the Lord will not turn back Until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart; In the last days you will clearly understand it. 21 I did not send these prophets, But they ran. I did not speak to them, But they prophesied. 22 But if they had stood in My council, Then they would have announced My words to My people, And would have turned them back from their evil way And from the evil of their deeds. 23 Am I a God who is near, declares the Lord, And not a God far off? 24 Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? declares the Lord. To encourage and support those who preach another gospel is to participate in their evil deeds (2 John 7 11). 2 John 7 11 (NASB95) 7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. 9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds. 4
CONCLUSION Let us be strong in the Lord, giving and receiving strength from one another. Yet, may we steadfastly avoid strengthening evildoers, and thus undermine the cause of Christ. 5