We come to part of the daily Celtic prayer with the call: Do you seek Him with all your strength? I wonder, can we respond: Amen. Christ, have mercy?
Scripture often contrasts between weakness and strength. In Psalm 119:28 we read "My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word."Whilst in Philippians 4:13 we find Paul saying, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
One day a small boy was trying to lift a heavy stone, but he couldn’t budge it. His father, passing by, stopped to watch his efforts. Finally he said to his son: “Are you using all your strength?’
“Yes, I am,” the boy cried, exasperated.
“No,” the father said calmly, “You’re not. You have not asked me to help you.” The child needed to learn to depend upon his father, as an added source of strength.
I have quoted this verse of Annie Johnson Flint before, When we have exhausted our store of endurance, When our strength has failed ere the day is half done, When we reach the end of our hoarded resources Our Father’s full giving is only begun.
Christ does not require us to solely use our strength, but to use all our strength in tandem with him. Matthew 11:28-30 according to the voice version has the words, “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Put My yoke upon your shoulders—it might appear heavy at first, but it is perfectly fitted to your curves. Learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. When you are yoked to Me, your weary souls will find rest. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”
In times of weakness and hour of need,
yours is the strength by which we carry on,
the shoulder we rest our head upon.
When our load is heavy and too much to bear,
yours are the arms stretched out to help us
the grace that we depend on.
In times of weakness and hour of need,
your voice is heard,
‘Come… find rest.’
This is grace divine,
the path we tread to wholeness
of body and spirit,
the path that leads to you,
and for which we offer our offering of praise. Amen
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