Our Part; His Part

“Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.” (Ps 31:24 AV)

Note here our part and His part.  To have courage means to be resolved.  To have courage is possible without the ability to act.  One can have courage as the boat is sinking, meeting the end with hope and joy.  Courage does not necessarily require the means to realize that which we hope.  This is where God comes it.  It is our part to have courage.  It is His part to strengthen.

A familiar scenario plays out from time to time.  There are people, usually lined up and facing a leader.  Then the leader asks for one volunteer.  He has a mission that is high risk and needs someone to take that risk. He instructs the one brave soldier to take one step forward.  Invariably, all but one take one step back.  Reluctantly, he goes off on his mission and is successful.  He comes back a hero.  Never intending to be one, the circumstances demanded resolve.  The leader equipped his ‘forced volunteer’ with sufficient intelligence, ordnance, and a plan that led to victory.  All our poor volunteer needed to do is to not say no.  Everyone else said no.  The volunteer, by standing there and not stepping back didn’t say yes, but he didn’t say no, either.  He may not have had the strength to go into battle, but by standing his ground the leader provided him with the strength for the battle.

God never asks of us anything too difficult for us to endure.  He will never require us to fight a pointless and unwinnable battle.  Search the scriptures.  Not once did God ever ask a saint to do something where he never supplied the means to accomplish it.  We love to quote 1Cor 10:13. What we often miss is the truth of God’s participation in our task.  God will never leave nor forsake us.  Faith is a funny thing.  It is an impossibility sometimes.  Faith is a choice to take God at His word, resulting in ordering our choices and actions in light of His word.  Faith is not mere belief.  Faith is accepting truth as it stands and modifying our thinking and behavior accordingly.  David is stating a truth that is dear to a soldier.  He knows of what he speaks.  No doubt there were times when God told him to order a battle and it seemed unwinnable.  Yet the LORD told him to, and he was resolved to go ahead.  The odds did not seem in his favor.  But that is a God thing.  If we could handle everything in our own strength, what need do we have of God?  If God only gave us that which we could handle in our own strength, there would be no opportunity to trust and glorify God.

What we need to see is our part and God’s part.  It is our part to resolve our commitment.  It is not our part to bring everything needed to the battle in order to win the battle.  That is God’s part.  All He is looking for are those who are willing to trust Him, resolving in their hearts to go into battle and leave the bulk of the fighting to Him.  We place too much on our shoulders and failing in the process.  What we need to do is make our shoulders available no matter what and let God be the one who shoulders the vast majority of provision for assured victory.