He gave Christians the Holy Spirit to indwell within us to give us strength to face the days and their challenges.
But it doesn't come in one big package.
Read Deuteronomy 33:25. within the blessings granted to the twelve tribes as they were about to inherit the Holy Land. (I'm actually using the KJV2000 for a change - it's a little clearer on this.)
Your shoes shall be iron and bronze; and as your days, so shall your strength be.
Though the road ahead of us might be rough, our shoes are made of something extremely strong, so we won't feel the difficulties that lie in our path.
"As our days, so shall our strength be"... God gives us strength to fight each day's battles - but He gives us that strength each day, not all at once! We are to pray each day for the strength we need to fight that day's battles, not go to God's Costco and order a two-week supply!
God's command to and through Joshua (Moses' successor) was even more clear (this is Joshua 1:7-9, ESV) -
"Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 8This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
How do we know that God is with us wherever we go? He tells us so right there in Joshua 1:9, among many, many other places in Scripture. Deuteronomy 2:7 is similarly clear -
"For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.”
You have lacked nothing. You may not have gotten all those extras you were yearning for - the caviar dinners, the yacht, the trip to the south of France - but you have not wanted for food or shelter or clothing or any of the other essentials you've needed for your existence. People often misunderstand the Lord's promise on this: "Give us this day our daily bread" - NOT our daily caviar!
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And, more crucially, God has been with you, even in YOUR 'wilderness'.
When I was an unsaved 'Christian', not knowing what I lacked, thinking that because I was nice to puppies I'd be going to Heaven when I died, God was still with me. I can look back over the forty-plus years before my salvation and see His guiding Hand on my life throughout that time - opening doors to jobs at the time they were needed, presenting opportunities when I needed them (some I took, others I failed to take and lived the consequences), and bringing the people into my life whom I needed at the time. That included my late wife and high school sweetheart Melissa, who was the one who brought me to God, to Christ, and to my salvation.
I can sense the Holy Spirit within me now; He wasn't with me back then. But that doesn't mean that God wasn't paying attention - He knows and sees all, of course. He is not obligated to help you if you're not His Child - if you're NOT SAVED. He might. He helped me several times, although I strongly suspect He would have done so many, many more times had I been a real Christian then.
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"For the Eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward Him." 2nd Chronicles 16:9
God gives strong support to those whose heart is with Him. That support may be internal guidance, it may be providential intervention of supplies or circumstances, or any of a number of other possibilities limited only by HIS Imagination (which is without bound, of course!).
Do you need strength today? What DO you need today? Christ told us what to do if we were His Children and we needed something - anything... (Luke 11:9-13)
9And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!?”
BUT...what is it that you're asking for, seeking, knocking on? If you ask your father for an explosive device, would he give it to you? Not if he's a good parent - he would know what the best thing for you would be and that would be for you NOT to blow yourself up. Similarly, God will not give you something that would be counter-beneficial for you.
"What father, if his son asks for an egg, but the son is allergic to eggs, would actually GIVE him that egg? NONE, I hope!"
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In my morning prayers, I pray that the Lord gives me strength to meet the challenges that day will bring, and often (like today) I set aside all my other requests and simply ask that "Thy Will Be Done, Lord" - because He undoubtedly knows better than I do what the best choices to be made are. And since Jeremiah 29:11 assures us...
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."
...I would rather His plans came true than my plans, thank you very much!
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