Renew Your Strength – Ella Rodionoff

Sep 6, 2016 2602

When I was very young, my family would sometimes go for nature walks. In deference to my little legs, the walks weren’t too long, but I still became tired and needed to rest, until I had more energy to keep going.

Life can sometimes feel very similar: we find ourselves travelling a long distance and lack the strength to go on. Thankfully, the Lord understands how easy it is for us to get tired and weighed down by all life’s responsibilities and stresses. He tells us in Matthew 11:28:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Here is Jesus telling us simply to come to him. We can give him our problems, or share whatever difficult situation we are facing, then we can rest knowing that everything is in his hands. We don’t need to stress. We can have peace.

During my rests, I would sit, swinging my legs, playing with leaves and flowers I’d gathered. But I couldn’t rest indefinitely. We had to keep going, so my parents would encourage me to jump up and continue along the path. The rest had given me energy, strength and motivation to go on. Likewise in life: the problems ahead won’t necessarily go away, but Jesus gives us rest for the present, and strength to deal with whatever we face.

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint (Isaiah 40:30-31).

The Old Testament story of David is full of great lessons that are as relevant for us as they were for the time in which they were written. David’s life was full of situations that could cause discouragement: when he was in battle, when pursued by King Saul, when his family was fighting. At the end of 1 Samuel we are told of an especially difficult time in David’s life. He and his men had returned home to find that their town had been burnt and their families had been taken. As distressing as this was for David already, the men were so upset they talked of stoning him. But he was able to rise above it, and he led his men to retrieve their families.

What was David’s secret armour for the difficult times?

… David found strength in the Lord his God (1 Samuel 30:6).

Regardless of life’s difficulties and our own particular struggles, stresses and problems, we can go to Jesus and he will give us rest and the strength to go on. Just as he did for David, who went on to become king, Jesus also has a great plan for our future. He came to this earth and died on the Cross so we could be saved from our sins and live forever. And in the meantime, we can find rest and strength in him. All we need to do is to accept his grace through faith.

– Ella Rodionoff

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