There’s a big difference between asking God for strength and asking God to be your strength.
Our God is infinite in every single attribute He has: infinite in His love, His mercy, His kindness, His knowledge and wisdom, and even His strength.
But as mere men, we are limited in our strength. Isaiah says that even young men will grow tired and weary. Even the most strong-willed, self-dependent person will grow tired… and soon burn out.
Many of us turn to God for strength. We ask Him to strengthen us and renew our strength. But because of our own limitations, we are only asking for a portion of who He is. We are only asking for a fraction of His infiniteness, a fraction of His magnitude, a fraction of His greatness.
And soon, we get tired again. But this time, we are not only weary, but may question God’s strength. Didn’t we ask for strength from Him? Why was it only so little?
We only receive what we ask for.
If we ask God to replenish our limited strength, then we will only receive limited strength. But if we humble ourselves and know that our strength cannot get us through the trials, tasks or temptations in our lives and ask Him to BE our strength, then we will not fall short of what is ahead of us.
The key to this is that if we ask God to BE our strength, we have to remain and constantly seek His presence. We cannot have His strength and be apart from Him.
