The Father’s Strength

Key verse

Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.

Deuteronomy 31:8 NLT

One Sunday afternoon a few months after my parents’ divorce, I was preparing lunch with my father in our modest apartment’s kitchen. He was standing behind me cooking something. I didn’t recognize it, but he was struggling internally and had given up hope. He started sobbing frantically. As I turned toward him, he took hold of me and cried on my shoulder. I was thirteen years old.

All my life, my dad was my hero, magnificent and powerful. For the first time in my life, I was giving my dad support, and I realized that he was imperfect and human. It horrified me; it sobered me. I realized I always had his power to rely on, but seeing him weak left me afraid.

We are born with an instinctive knowledge that we are going to be all right and that someone is watching over us. Yet we learn that people, though they may do their best, are flawed and will eventually fail us. But the natural hunger for stability, support, and strength never pass away. That is the thing that God has put in us—a craving for His completion in our lives.

He is our strength whenever we are weak. And though the relationship with my father has strengthened and grown throughout our lives, I recognize that my strength does not exist in him but God. Jesus is the one who goes before us to form the path and is ever beside us to provide courage when we feel weak. It’s His passion to be our power when we are helpless.

In our desperation, He longs for us to cry out to Him, not in dread or discouragement, but to see He is always with us, will never fail us, and will never leave us. God is reaching out to you today to let you know that you can always cry on His shoulder. He is a father who is never weak and never makes mistakes. He is our strength.

Prayer

Father, thank You for loving and being with me always. Thank You for going before me in my day today and for taking care of every need I have in my future. Please give me strength today, to know that You are with me and that You have called me according to Your purpose to do Your will and see Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Thank You for being my strength! Amen.