Knowledge Means Strength

“A wise man [is] strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.” (Pr 24:5 AV)

Just last night, I was praying and expressing this very thought.  I was sharing how weak I felt.  All the way around; physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  I felt as drained as I ever have been.  Then the LORD gave me this verse.  By the leading of the Holy Spirit, it occurred to me that sometimes weakness is a self-inflicted condition.  Not all the time.  Paul tells us to not be weary in well-doing.  Solomon tells us that much study is weariness to the bones.  Doing well for the LORD can drain us.  This is not always the case.  We can cause our own weakness by ignorance, which results in poor decisions.  We can weaken ourselves by our sin.  It saps much from the soul of man.  We can become weak because we refuse to trust the LORD and His strength, relying on our own strength instead.  There are many reasons we can inflict weakness of soul.  One remedy to weakness is knowledge.  Wisdom, which is the discipline to apply knowledge and understanding, strengthens the soul.  Foolishness has a way of robbing us of much.

Ignorance is a horrible adversary.  Many years ago, my son’s car had a flat tire.  It was parked in the driveway.  The closest repair shop was seven miles away.  That was not close enough to drive on a flat tire.  It had to come off.  However, the lug nuts were so tight, a tire iron and pure human strength could not budge them.  My son tried.  Then I tried.  Then I stood my large frame on the tire iron and bounced a bit.  All to no avail.  I knew that if we continued to try by the same means, we were bound to either strip the lug nut face or snap it off.  Either meant a tow to a repair shop.  Digging way back into my physics class, I knew all about levers.  We found an eight foot by three-inch brass pipe.  Putting that over the tire iron and spraying some lubricant on the nut, but he and I slowly added more and more pressure until the nut slowly moved.  We didn’t try sharp pushes.  We didn’t bounce it with too much force.  We allowed the principle of the lever to do all the work.  Ignorance pulled our muscles.  We were sore from trying to loosen that nut without the lever.  But knowledge added the force and multiplied the little strength we had into the force necessary to overcome adversity.

How much hurt do we cause ourselves because we are ignorant or lazy?  How much harm to we bring upon ourselves because we refuse to trust?  How much injury is inflicted because we refused to rely upon God’s strength? Which, by the way, is infinitely greater than our own?  Not above it is not age or exercise that increased strength.  Consuming protein drinks and going to the gym may build muscle mass.  But muscle mass does not always translate into strength.  It amazes me how average men can work on super huge equipment.  Changing a track on the tank can be done by a soldier weighing a mere 180 pounds just as well as a muscle bound 300-pound marine.  Why?  Knowledge.  Not also that knowledge can always increase.  Muscle mass not so much.  This principle applies to the soul as well.  It doesn’t take inner workout sessions to build one’s inner person.  What it takes is time alone with God, has word, and a will broken to trust.  If we are weak, it might be our own fault!