The strong man sinks down into a babe!
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"The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I will take refuge." Psalm 18:2
As long as a man has any strength of his own, he will never have any strength in the Lord—for the strength of Jesus is made perfect in our weakness. Oh, what a painful lesson we have to learn to find all our strength is weakness. There was a time when we thought we had strength, and could—resist Satan—overcome the world—endure persecution—bear the reproach of man—mortify and keep down pride, and the evils of our heart. Have we found ourselves able to carry out our 'imagined strength'? What has been our experience in this matter? That we have discovered more and more our own weakness—that we cannot stand against one temptation—the least gust blows us down!
Our besetting lusts, our vile passions, and the wicked desires of our hearts, so entice our eyes and thoughts—so entwine themselves around our affections—that we give out in a moment—unless God Himself holds us up! We cannot stand against sin—our heart is as weak as water. Thus we learn our weakness, by feeling ourselves to be the very weakest of the weak, and the very vilest of the vile. As the Lord leads a man deeper down into the knowledge of his corruptions, it makes him more and more out of conceit with his righteous, pious, holy self. The more the Lord leads a man into the knowledge of temptation, his besetting sin, the power of his corruptions, the workings of his vile nature—the more deeply and painfully he learns what a poor, helpless, weak, powerless wretch he is.
As the Lord is pleased to unfold before his eyes the strength, power, and fullness lodged in Jesus Christ, He draws him—leads him—brings him—encourages him—and enables him to come to this fullness. And by the hand of faith he draws supplies out of that fullness. As the Lord enables the soul to look to Jesus, His blessed strength is communicated and breathed into his soul. Then the 'poor worm Jacob' threshes the mountains, beats down the hills, and makes them fly before him as chaff.
When the Lord strengthens him, he can stand against temptation—overcome sin—bear persecution—subdue the evils of his heart—and fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil. When the Lord leaves him, he is like Samson with his locks cut. He sinks into all evil, and feels the helplessness of his fallen nature. Let the Lord but remove His gracious presence, and the strong man sinks down into a babe! And he who in the strength of the Lord could thresh the mountains, falls down as weak and helpless as a little child. Thus the Lord painfully and solemnly teaches us, that being nothing in ourselves, and feeling our weakness, helplessness, and wretchedness—in Him alone we have strength.
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