You Don't Know Your Own Strength
Psalm 65
If thou be faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
Proverbs 24:10 GNV
Many of the Psalms are born out adversity. Solomon later observed this proverb about adversity. If you are faint in the day of adversity, others say you're slack, careless, you fail under pressure. The real thought is not that your body can't hold up and you faint, but that your spirit has no strength. This is focusing on the strength of the inner man. Writers often draw upon variations of this thought. Whether C. S. Lewis with the Chronicles of Narnia series of stories or J. R. R. Tolkien in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings it is often the seemingly insignificant persons or beings that have the bravest, strongest character, and in that true modesty because their strength was unknown even to themselves. Today I watched the ending of a movie that dealt with this thought. That movie was Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Though I've read the Lord of the Rings trilogy of books I do not recall if one line is from the book or the screen writers, but it is truly significant in the whole of the saga. In amongst dwarves, elves, and various armies of men four unlikey, lowest thought of individuals called hobbits took on a quest or rather it was thrust upon one of them. Through thousands of pages of travel, adventures, and increasingly difficult conflicts and battles they are proven that when they are worn and have no strength to go on they prove not just to themselves, but to all involved to the extent that near the end of the tale the one who is crowned as king of Gondor in Middle Earth tells this quartet of hobbits, "You bow to no one." Not had only the one proved, but they all proved unknown strength they possessed.
All to often when we read the psalms they appear to be only as real as a fantastic series of novels. Sometimes we loose focus of Jesus Christ and who we are in Him and try to make it through the day on our own, or week, or month. Yes, reading the Bible is a part of our routine. Our strength in those times is truly small.
Wicked deeds have prevailed against me: but thou wilt be merciful unto our transgressions.
Psalms 65:3 GNV
Wicked deeds of have prevailed against me. Throughout the whole Lord of the Rings series my favorite character is Samwise Gangee. His task, his responsibility is to see his friend the main character, Frodo Baggins, accomplishes his task. At times both are demoralized and feel hopeless in their quest, but Samwise proves a very faithful friend we might say we only dream of having. Even when all of their energy is spent and the nature of the task is far to much for Frodo to even have strength to walk Samwise tells Frodo, "Mr. Frodo, I may not be able to carry your burden, but I can carry you."
Even in our weakness, and even as we transgress in our overwhelming weakness against our God He is merciful. It is He who is our faithful friend carries us.
Blessed is he, whom thou choosest and causest to come to thee: he shall dwell in thy courts, and we shall be satisfied with the pleasures of thine House, even of thine holy Temple. O God of our salvation, thou wilt answer us with fearful signs in thy righteousness, O thou the hope of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are far off in the sea.
Psalms 65:4 - 5 GNV
All of our strength, all of our satisfaction, all of our salvation is in Him alone.
At the end of the epic three Lord of the Ring movies where so much of the time was fraught with conflict and danger Samwise Gangee marries the beautiful Rosie Cotton and gets to enjoy peace they have had since the king of Gondor was crowned years before. Such a great transition it was to peace.
While The Lord of the Rings trilogy movies were all a purely fictional story told in a grand way, as a movie it was told in a way to generate financial reward. How very important it is to see Psalm 65 for what it is. It is a very personal response of David to tell of the greatness of God.
To him that excelleth. A Psalm or song of David.
O God, praise waiteth for thee in Zion, and unto thee shall the vow be performed. Because thou hearest the prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.
Psalms 65:1 - 2 GNV
But in a similar way to how J.R.R. Tolkien tells his fictional story with eventually a peaceful joyous ending there is so much more of truth that David tells of his experience waiting and trusting God and the very real greatness of God all around us.
Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou makest it very rich: the River of God is full of water: thou preparest them corn: for so thou appointest it.
Psalms 65:9 GNV
David continues on telling of God's great interaction with man in the world He made, how important it is to see that as was said before "blessed is he who (God) chooses and causes to come to (Him)". We do not have that strength of ourselves, but it is God's choosing that enables us with that inner strength. That is our small seemingly insignificant part in all God has. And when that strength comes from God there is no way that we could ever truly know our own strength.