When your strength is all gone, God meets you at your point of failure
Getty/Malte Mueller/EEW Magazine
Editor’s Note: This devotion was written by Dianna Hobbs and used by permission from her ‘Your Daily Cup of Inspiration’ blog. To read more encouragement like this, visit YourDailyCupOfInspiration.com
Last week during my weight training session with my personal trainer and son, Kedar, I did some dead lifts, squats, and bench presses among other things. While weightlifting, Kedar measured my max weight to learn the heaviest I could lift when doing various exercises.
The only way to know my max weight is for me to do reps of a certain movement “till failure” which means repeating an exercise until I physically can’t do it anymore. While testing my max weight for squats, Kedar told me, “When your legs fail, don’t be scared. I’m right behind you. I won’t let you fall.”
He was acting as my “spotter”—a person who supports someone during a particular exercise and intervenes when the lift is too heavy. When necessary, a spotter will grab the weight to prevent injury to the exhausted lifter.
So, with Kedar spotting me, I knew I could push myself further than normal because he would support and help me when it got to be too much. Though it was tough, I grunted, pushed, and sweated my way through repeated reps until I reached my max weight. I knew I had gotten there because when I tried to stand up from a squatting position while holding the weighted bar on my shoulders, my legs gave out, and down I went!
Just as Kedar promised, he caught me and lifted the weight from my shoulders. Had he not been there spotting me, I would have hit the floor hard.
It feels so weird to reach the point of failure during weightlifting. No matter how hard you push, there is no amount of effort or resolve that can give you the physical strength you need to lift the weight. It reminds you that your strength is limited, and you can’t do hard things all alone.
Sometimes in life, we reach that point of failure, don’t we? We get to the place where we feel like we can’t go any further, and our strength gives out.
As one who has battled chronic illness for a large portion of my life, I know what it means for the pain to be so intense that I have nothing left in me. There have been times when I couldn’t even lift my head off the pillow. I felt like giving up and longed to go home to be with the Lord. My strength totally failed me … and down I went.
But I am thankful that at my lowest points, when my strength failed, God has always assumed the role of Divine Spotter and lent me His strength in my weakest moments. Psalm 73:26 ESV, which I love, says, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
I know we don’t like to fail, but it happens. Sometimes, plans fail. Relationships fail. Ventures fail. Health fails. Despite that, Jesus Christ intervenes and intercedes so that our faith won’t fail. Remember when Jesus told His disciple Peter in Luke 22:32, “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail”?
That word fail is the Greek word ekleipō (ἐκλείπω), meaning to cease, to die, to leave, to quit, to stop. It is also means failing in the sense of an eclipse of the light of the sun and the moon.
So then, Jesus prayed that during hard times and seasons of persecution, the darkness of doubt would not eclipse the light of Peter’s faith or ours. That way, when we are tried in the fire of affliction, our faith will not be consumed by the angry flames. Because Jesus prayed, when we would give up, our faith gets a second wind and helps us to keep going. I’m reminded of an old song I used to sing in church that says, “There is something inside of me, telling me to go ahead. Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.”
That something is the power of the Holy Ghost and the result of Jesus interceding for us. Aren’t you thankful that He intercedes for you so your faith won’t fail? Friend, it is because He prays for you that when your plans die, your faith doesn’t. Because He prays for you, when loved ones leave, your faith doesn’t. Because He prays for you, when your body quits on you, your faith doesn’t. Because He prays for you, when you want to stop and throw in the towel, your faith keeps on going.
Something on the inside keeps telling you to go ahead.
Go ahead and believe on. Go ahead and run on. Go ahead and pray on. Go ahead and praise on. Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.
“Right now, God is fortifying your faith and giving you the strength you need to carry on. Keep on trusting Him. He won’t fail you!”
I know how hard things can get, how weak you can feel, and how troubling circumstances can be. But God sent me to tell you, don’t be afraid or worried, for He is with you. Not only is He holding you up, but He is supernaturally strengthening you even now. He's renewing you even now. He’s restoring you even now. He’s replenishing you even now. He’s healing you even now. He’s working behind the scenes on your behalf even now. He’s surrounding you with His favor even now. God is meeting you at your point of failure even now.
As you receive this uplifting message, I am petitioning God on your behalf using the words of Isaiah 35:3: “Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.”
I believe that this is precisely what God is doing for you through this word. To further empower you if you find yourself at your point of failure, I’m stirring a sweetener into your cup of inspiration from Deuteronomy 31:8 NLT, which says, “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.”
As you drink down the contents of your cup, know that when your strength fails, His strength never runs out. He’ll uphold you. He’ll take care of you. He’ll love on you. He’ll hold you. He’ll dry your tears. He’ll favor you. He’ll bless you. He’ll feed you in the wilderness. He’ll vindicate you. He will deliver you from any adversary and out of every adversity. All you have to do is trust Him. He’ll never let you down!
Now let’s pray.
God, thank You for reminding me that when I am weak, You are strong. And though my strength runs out, Yours never does. And when I feel unable to carry on, Your only begotten son intervenes and intercedes for me. Whenever I get weary, please help me to confidently trust in Your unfailing promise to meet me at my point of failure and rescue me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Dianna Hobbs is founder of EEW Magazine Online and CEO of Empowering Everyday Women Ministries — a 501c3 nonprofit organization that shares the gospel and provides humanitarian aid to the hurting. She is also the writer of Your Daily Cup of Inspiration and executive producer of the companion podcast. Follow Dianna on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube. Sign up for her free ministry newsletter here.
