Made Man-strong!

“Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man [whom] thou madest strong for thyself.” (Ps 80:17 AV)

The author is Asaph.  The purpose is a prayer for David.  The application is simple.  The songwriter for the king is praying for God’s hand to be on the leader.  This would be true of David, or anyone whom God touches for leadership.  What we often forget is that all men are called to lead.  What differs is the area of responsibility to which each is called.  Some are called to be kings.  Some are called to be ministers.  Some are called to be teachers.  Most are called to be husbands and fathers.  God created man to lead.  But what stood out to me this morning is the phrase that ends this particular prayer.  God created men, and specifically men who lead, to be strong for the LORD.  We often look at the charge to which we have been entrusted, whether a family, a classroom, a church, or a nation and think that it is for them we are supposed to be strong.  And that is certainly true.  But in a different way, we are to be strong for the LORD.  He is not weak.  He is not in need of our strength for provision or protection.  Rather, He is seeking those who will be strong for His testimony’s sake.  He is seeking those who will be strong for His purposes and plans.  The personal possessive pronoun is what speaks the loudest.  Thyself!

My father taught his children much.  One of the skills he attempted to teach us was leadership.  It was important to both him and my mother to raise boys to be men.  Neither allowed us the luxury of backing out on that calling.  My mother did not allow her boys to be feminized.  She refused to allow us to wear the prevalent fashion of the day that was meant to erase the sharp distinction between boys and girls.  When it came to my father, he used the Boy Scouts to train his boys how to be men.  I wouldn’t recommend that organization anymore, but sixty years ago, it had much virtue.  There are better organizations that do what the Boy Scouts once did, but from a disciplined Christian perspective.  Delegation was one of those skills that he shared with us.  His goal was to raise boys who could eventually be free from their mentor and take on the responsibilities of manhood.  One of those responsibilities was to train other boys to be men.  Part of our training was to learn, assume responsibility, and mentor others for the sake of our troop and our Troop Master.   That would have been my dad.  We didn’t win many competitions, but my father was known well in the council of troops as a leader who trained boys well.  Our troop number was four.  Out of thousands of troops, ours was the fourth oldest.  That is saying something when one remembers the Boy Scouts started in 1919.

Note in particular that the tense of the verb above is present tense.  That means Asaph has acknowledge that God made David strong.  God made men strong and to be strong.  This is the problem with the whole idea of feminizing men.  It makes them weak.  It turns on its head the design of God and makes men the opposite of what God has made them.  No wonder there is confusion and depression.  God made men strong so that they can be used of God for God’s purposes.  It is the world that tells us that men are weak.  In fact, masculine weakness is seen as a virtue.  This has been going on since the end of WWII.  All one has to do is not notice the cultural shifts.  Leave it to Beaver was once the standard for what it was to be a man.  By the time we get to Home Improvement, a man is a idiot who cannot even screw in a lightbulb right.  He is seen as a sensitive oaf who is more in touch with his feelings that he is his brain.  That is not how God made us.  God made man to be strong for Him!  If we are strong for Him, then we will be strong for those who look on us for that strength.