Strength of the Son

The temperature had finally climbed above 0 degrees Fahrenheit; it was now 5°F (−15°C). Snow had fallen lightly during the night.

But as I looked at the driveway on the east side of the house, I noticed that the snow was already melting. How could that be? The answer was the strength of the sun. Here, at five thousand feet elevation, the sun is very strong. One of the things we tell people who come to the mountains for the first time is to wear plenty of sunscreen and to drink lots of water because they are now closer to the sun. The Bible talks about a different Son who also has great strength: “The LORD is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation” (Exodus 15:2, NIV). In the Old Testament, David was in danger throughout much of his life, so it is not surprising that he would look to the Son for his strength. He certainly sang about that often in his psalms, or songs. It was not just David, though, who sang about God and His strength.

The introduction to Psalm 46 reads, “For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth. A song.” And the verse that follows assures us that “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (verse 1, NIV).

As women, we tend to like Proverbs 31. Verse 1 indicates that this proverb was written by King Lemuel. Although we do not know who he was, the verse tells us he was taught these things by his mother. This poem is an acrostic, meaning that each verse in the original Hebrew starts with the successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

The woman whom King Lemuel describes was amazing; she could do just about everything! “She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come” (verse 25, NIV). Where did she get this strength? In much of Proverbs, wisdom is personified as a woman—wisdom that comes from God (Proverbs 1). So the book of Proverbs begins and ends with the woman of wisdom and strength. Paul gives a good closing to this thought: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength” (1 Corinthians 1:25, NIV).

Ardis Dick Stenbakken