Extra Strength

About two and a half weeks ago, I started getting pain in my lower back.  It started on a Monday morning, got better for a little while, then got worse.  It was better Tuesday evening, but much worse Wednesday.  So, I went to the doctor and discovered I have bulging discs in my back.

Now, I don’t want you to waste a lot of time feeling sorry for me.  They gave me some medication, and I’m much better than I was.  For the most part, I don’t really even feel it any more, other than when I do something I shouldn’t.  I’ll start some physical therapy to strengthen my back next week, and I’m sure I’ll be fine.  I’m just getting older, as happens to all of us.  I’m sure many of you have to live with a lot more pain than what I have.

The reason I bring it up, though, is that I started thinking about how fortunate I am--how fortunate all of us are--to live in the time we do.  I mean, people didn’t just start having bulging discs in the 21st century.  What did people do a hundred years ago when they had bulging discs in their back?

Well, I looked on the internet.  It appears that what people did was have surgery.  And sometimes that helped, and sometimes it didn’t.  Sometimes it might make things worse.  If you lived out in the middle of nowhere, the way we do, you probably didn’t have access to a doctor who could do that kind of surgery.  And even people who did have that access to that sort of doctor were probably hesitant to have the surgery, because again, there was no guarantee that it would work and it might have the opposite effect.  So, lots of people probably just learned to live with the pain and kept going as best they could.  That wouldn’t be easy--I only had the worst pain for a few days, and it was no fun at all.  To have to live with it for years--well, I don’t like to think about it.

But I’m sure people did it.  They did it because, really, what choice did they have?  They did what they had to do, and for the most part, they probably didn’t even complain about it.  It just was what it was.

I think that tells us something about human nature.  All of us are a lot stronger than we think we are.  All of us can do things we don’t think we can do.  But when we have to do those things, when we have to be that strong, we are.  We do it because we know that, really, we don’t have any other choice.  So we develop that strength, and we do it.  And we probably don’t even complain about it.  It just is what it is.  You’ve probably already experienced that in your life, maybe more than once.

But it also tells us something about God.  God put that strength in us.  God knows that life can be challenging.  In fact, life can be very hard.  God knew there would be times when we would need extra strength.  And so, God put that strength inside us, waiting to be called on when we need it.

But God also knows that there are times when, no matter how strong we are, it won’t be enough.  That’s why God allows us to call on Him.  When our own strength is not enough, we can rely on God’s strength.  God will encourage us, God will sustain us, God will empower us.  God will give us whatever we need when we need it.

So, if your own strength seems like it’s not enough, pray.  Ask God to give you some of God’s strength.  God’s strength never fails.  And God will allow us to use as much of it as we need whenever we need it.