![[Photo of a Scripture verse]](https://www.deankwilson.com/Blog_images/Isaiah_40_29.jpg)
| “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” |
| —Isaiah 40:29 |
During my years in junior high school, I had many embarrassing experiences. One of the most troubling events occurred when the huge folding doorway that separated the gymnasium into two equal parts jammed and would not close. For one miserable day, the boy’s gym class had to share the entire open space with the girl’s gym class. While most of the boys absolutely loved the opportunity to show off for the girls, I was mortified.
I had already painfully learned how disliked I was by most girls. Now, I had to be even more exposed to their disdain and ridicule. You see, the boy’s gym class was doing basic calisthenics. In particular, we were doing pull ups on an elevated bar. While most boys could jump up, grab the bar, and proceed to effortlessly pull themselves up a dozen or more times, I was unable to pull myself up even once.
Not content to allow me to hide in the back of the line, the gym teacher, who had already made it very clear on several occasions that he had a strong distaste for anyone like me who was so grossly overweight, insisted that I try over and over and over again to complete a pull up. He punctuated my humiliation by a running commentary, holding me up as an example of what would become of anyone who was lazy, foolish, and addicted to food.
While I excelled in academic pursuits, gym class was my daily time of torture, made all the more so by President John F. Kennedy’s “National Council on Physical Fitness” and the host of initiatives that it had pushed onto the local school systems. The phrase, “God give me strength!” had special meaning for me in those days.
In fact, God is our source of strength—physical strength, emotional strength, intellectual strength, and spiritual strength. The Prophet Isaiah reminded the Southern Kingdom of Judah of this fact, as recorded in Isaiah 40:29:
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
As we launch off into another day, let’s remember that all the strength we need is readily available from the God who loves us. We can ask Him to increase our strength and empower us when we need to overcome our own weaknesses. He will gladly supply strength and power from His inexhaustible supply.
