A Promise For Every Day

Text: "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." - Deuteronomy 33: 25.

This is a promise from God that has strengthened and blessed more Christians.
"As thy days, so shall thy strength be."

Let us think about that promise.
It is so encouraging considering our weakness and our needs!
When we consider our our weakness, we find in that promise the promise of strength.

"As thy days, so shall thy strength be."

This promise from God is so assuring considering our weakness!
And our weakness will be revealed in us in almost any direction that we may take.
Take our duty, whatever it is.
We have often cried out within ourselves as we have faced our responsibilities and struggled with them.
Whether it be a preacher, a parent, or professional or other workers.
Many have cried out within themselves, "Who is sufficient for these things?
How can I get through this problem?"

So, when we consider our weakness and weariness,here is the promise of strength.
This promise encourages us as we look at the progress that we are making in our Christian life.

Whenever we look within ourselves, and search ourselves thoroughly, we are upset with so little progress
that we are making.
We look around us, and see others who are growing and succeeding and overcoming in remarkable ways
in their Christian life.
And it seems to us as we look at ourselves that there is so little progress, so little growth,
and very few attainments that we have made, and are making in the Christian life.

This promise especially comes to encourage us and strengthen us when we look at our besetting sin
or sins in our daily battles.
The Bible speaks of the sin which "doth so easily beset us."
Everyone has his besetting sin which enslaves or handicaps or hinders him.

This promise means so much to us, as we grapple with our besetting sin -- whatever it is.
With one person it is one thing, and with another it is another thing, but everyone has his besetting sin
-- his handicap -- his weakness, so we need strength to defeat it, and here is the promise to us
that is so meaningful.

One person's besetting sin is the tendency to be discouraged.
Isn't it pitiful to feel so deeply the pressure and the weight of depressing discouragement.
Every person should set himself or herself against it -- everyone should strive to be an encourager.
A discourager hurts life.
Every Christian should be an encourager.
Every Christian should strive to be positive and constructive.

And then, there is another person whose weakness may be envy.
Oh, what a terrible weakness that is!
The Bible asks the question: "Who can stand before envy?"
Envy is a rottenness in one's bones.
Envy is an incipient murder.
Envy eats up every worthy thing.

If anyone finds envy anywhere in their life, they should pluck it out and fling it far away from them,
as they would fling away a deadly cobra, seeking to coil about their heart.

Another person's besetting sin could be the temptation of criticism or of judging.
This is a serious handicap!

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses these serious words:
"Judge not, that ye be not judged.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged;
and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."

And then He asked a disturbing question:
"Why beholdest thou the splinter that is in thy brother's eye."
"Why beholdest the tiny little splinter in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the big log
that is in thine own eye?
Thou .hypocrite," said Jesus, "first cast out the big log out of thine own eye;
and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the the splinter out of thy brother's eye."

If you have the tendency to harshness, to censoriousness, to uncharitableness,
pray to God to help you put it completely away,
It is so disastrous in its blinding and blighting effect on life!

Maybe there is someone who says: "That's not my trouble?"
Someone may say: "My trouble is that of anxiety" - an all consuming, apprehensive anxiety.
Many of us are troubled with anxiety at times.

So, Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount that we must:
"Be not anxious about what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, or what you shall wear."
Be not anxious!
Jesus teaches us to put our anxiety away, and He gives us the reasons why we should put it away,
and why we should refuse to be enslaved and depressed and consumed by anxiety.

In the first place Jesus tells us that anxiety is utterly needless.
Jesus says, "Which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his stature?"
Jesus is telling us that anxiety won't help us at all.
And then, He goes on to remind us that He cares for us, and therefore we are to refuse
to be burdened with anxiety.

Jesus said, "If He clothes the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast
into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, Oh, ye of little faith?"
Jesus is reminding us that He feeds the birds, and cares for the lilies, and therefore, you can be sure
that He will care for you.

And then, He goes on to tell us that such anxiety is heathenish.
"After all these things" -- like something to eat, and something to wear, the temporalities
-- "after all these things do the Gentiles seek," and you are to do better than they.

And then He goes on to tell us that anxiety only adds to what is coming tomorrow.
He says, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

For all these reasons He tells us to put anxiety utterly out of our lives.

B. H. Carroll, Texas pastor of the past says that there that there are two things that nobody should worry about.
First, he said that we should not worry about what we can help.
Let us help it, if it can be helped.
Next he said that we should not worry about what we cannot help.
If we cannot help it, worry will not improve it at all.

Now, if we can help it, let us help it, and if we cannot help it, let us give it to God, and say:
"Lord, lead me on, and I will follow wherever you lead me."
And then leave it there!

Take Your Burden To The Lord And Leave It There!

"If your body suffers pain and your health you can't regain,
And your soul is almost sinking in despair,
Jesus knows the pain you feel, He can save and He can heal;
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

When your enemies assail and your heart begins to fail,
Don't forget that God in Heaven answers prayer;
He will make a way for you and will lead you safely through.
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

When your youthful days are gone and old age is stealing on,
And your body bends beneath the weight of care;
He will never leave you then, He'll go with you to the end.
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

Chorus:
Leave it there, leave it there,
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
If you trust and never doubt, He will surely bring you out.
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there."

Now let us look again at our text which will strengthen us. .
"As thy days, so shall be thy strength."

Who are the recipients of this promise?

It is the promise which God makes to His children over and over again.
Here in this Holy Word of God is His unending promise that we will find all throughout His Word.
That is God's promise.
Human promises often fail.
They are often broken.

But this is God's promise.
When it is God's promise, we can depend on it with tranquility and peace.
It is God's promise.
He is saying to us: "You can trust me completely, and follow me as I lead you,
and your strength shall be given to you.
Whatever your doubt or duty or difficulty, whatever your sin or sorrow or suffering,
so shall be your strength, if you will only depend on me."

But we need to remind ourselves that there is a limitation to that promise.

Many of God's promises have limitations.
And we should note carefully that this promise has a limitation.
Notice it: "As thy days, so shall be thy strength."
"As thy days" -- see the limitation.
"As thy days, so shall be thy strength."

Never does God say: "As thy desires."
Many times our desires are improper.
Many times our desires are selfish.
Many times, if our desires were granted us, we would be far worse off.
There is such a thing as withheld answers to prayers, just because God loves us too much
to give an answer to a prayers that we offer.

If your little child comes into your room in the morning, before the day begins,
and maybe when the father is shaving, and the little child reaches up and grabs the razor,
and insists that the Father shall give him the razor, the Father takes charge of the razor,
and will not let the child play with it knowing all the terrible things that could happen.
The Father knows that the child could seriously hurt himself with that razor,
and he loves the child too much to give the child its desire.

And there are many times that you and I cry out to God for something that we would really like to have.
and God withholds the answer.
God knows that if we had gotten that thing we wanted that it would be a razor with which we could seriously
injure ourselves, and God knows best.

There was that time when Paul was suffering with his thorn in the flesh.
We don't know what Paul's thorn was.
But it was something very serious for Paul was not a cry -baby.
If ever there was a manly preacher, it was the Apostle Paul!
He was genuinely sincere to the very depths of his heart, as every man of God should to be.

The fundamental virtues in life is truth and integrity and sincerity.
If a person is not sincere, his life is a lie.
Paul was a man with sincerity and integrity and truth.
But he said: "There was given me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, sent to buffet me."

He said: "I poured out my prayer to His Father three times... beseeching the Lord thrice
that He would take that thorn out of my flesh."

And the Lord answered him: "Paul, I am going to leave that thorn in your life."
Remember, it was a "messenger of Satan, sent to buffet him."
It goaded him, and it harassed him, and it tortured him, but God left it there,
even though Paul prayed three times that God would take it away.
Paul prayed that prayer to God three times: "Please God, take this thorn away?"

But God did not take it away, but He gave Paul a gracious re-enforcement:
"Paul, my grace is sufficient for Thee."

And after that, Paul went on with his life saying:
"Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmity, for when I am weak, then I am strong!"
Paul was saying, "The power of Christ rests upon me because of this thorn, as I never would have
had it if I didn't have the thorn."

That reminds us that God comes with His fortifying power to help His child, whatever the need,
ad whatever the day.

Now look a little further at this promiser:
"As thy days, so shall be thy strength."

It does not say: "As thy fears."

Spurgeon once said that everybody has a trouble factory at his house,
and if the trouble does not come along easily and quickly, we put the factory to work to see that it comes?
What fearful people we are!

God's message to us is always: "Fear not."
One of the most wonderful things that Jesus said in the Book of Revelation is "Fear not."
Jesus said "Fear not to live," -- "for I am alive."
He also said. "Fear not to die," -- "for I died, and I have overcome death and the grave,
and you need not be afraid."
And Jesus said, "And you need not be afraid of what is coming after death,"
-- "for I hold in my hands the keys of death and of the invisible world."

Jesus said, "Fear not because I am alive, you need not to be afraid to live,
whatever comes to you.
And you need not be afraid to die, no matter where nor when.
And you need not be afraid of what is coming after death, for I have the keys of death
and the invisible world in my hands.
You trust me and be without fear."

That is His wonderful word and we must hide it in our heart.

George Truett told of an old farmer, and his mentality describes many of us.
He had to take a train at a certain hour in the early morning.
He lived some distant out in the country away from the railway station.

And so he set his alarm clock to wake him so that he might get to the station on time,
and then, he sat up all night and watched the alarm clock, to see if it went off at the time
for which he had set it!

We smile at that, but isn't it true that we are smiling at ourselves?
Our fears harass us, and corrode us, and enslave us, and depress us!
This great promise that we are remembering today teaches us to put our fears away, once and forever.

Now take another look at this promise.
What is it?

It says,"As thy days" - not as thy weeks, not as thy months, not as thy years,
not as thy seasons but "as thy days."

God is reminding us live one day at a time.
God is saying to us to be faithful, and live one day at a time, and God will take care of us.

You may be thinking that you would like to see what is ahead.
You may be think that you would like to see what hidden secrets may lie ahead.
But that is not God's purpose.

We may like to know what the future holds for us, but that won't happen.
So Jesus says, "Take it one day at a time -- just one day at a time, and place your trust in me."
When we do this what seems to be a defeat will be changed into a triumph.

Notice the limitation to the promise.
It says: "As thy days" - you see how comprehensive that is; that includes all the days,
whatever they are, however they come - "so shall be thy strength."

Some days are dark, and other days are bright.
Some days, we feel more intense and experience the awful pain and experience and wounding
and surprise and wonderment, than we feel in thirty whole years.

Ah, there are those who know about the pain that one can have in one short day,
when it seems that the heavens are darkened, and the sun is not shinning and there are no stars
in the sky.
This promise covers a day like that.

Job had his dark days when everything was taken from him -- his servants and his property
and his children and his health and his friends -- and even his wife.
She cried out to him to "Curse God and die!"

And Job simply replied: "Let come on me what will, though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him."
So out of the deepest depths, he came to higher heights than ever before.

That is God's promise.
Some days are little, and some days are large, and in all those days, commonplace and ordinary
and routine days, Jesus says: "I will be with you."
And then when life's testing days come -- days packed with with terror, with pain, with duty,
and with trial -- Jesus stands with us to fortify us as we continue to cling to Him.

And that promise is ours when our last day on earth has come -- the day of our death.

Somebody asked Dwight L. Moody if he had dying grace, and he said:
"Why, no. I have living grace, but when I come to die, I shall have dying grace."

And when they carried him home from a meeting he was conducting in Kansas City,
where a fatal sickness overcame him, he was propped up on his pillows,
with his loved ones around him, and he looked at them, and then looked up into the open heavens,
and said: "The world is receding.
Heaven is opening.
God is calling me, and I must be away."
He had dying grace when death came.

George Truett tells of the death of the wife of one of a most honored Texas judge.
Truett said that she had told him many times that she greatly feared that she was not a Christian,
and she had that fear because all of her lifetime she was in bondage with the fear of death.
He said that she never went to a funeral, or a funeral home if she could avoid it.
She had an unspeakable fear of death which is described in that Scripture which says:
"Who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."

Truett had said to her many times that if she was trusting Christ, and she would interrupt him
by saying: "If I am trusting Him? Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him."

And then Truett said to her, "If you are trusting Him, when the day comes for you to go,
His grace will be sufficient, and if you are conscious that day, you will know that it is sufficient."

And the day did come, and the nurse and the doctor were there, and she turned her lustrous eyes
to the doctor, and asked: "Doctor, what is happening?"
And he did not reply.
He was a very dear friend of the family.

And she then said: "Tell me frankly, doctor, is this death?"
He said: "Yes, it is death."

And then, she turned to her husband, and said: "Oh, dear husband, you know this is the hour
that for thirty years I have dreaded.
This is the hour of all hours I have dreaded."

And then she said: "Husband, don't you see that face?
Don't you hear that music?
Christ is here.
I have never known such rapture of light and peace and joy."

And in a very flood of celestial glory, that timid wife went out into the night into the presence of her God.
She found that God's grace was sufficient.

Will you take this promise to-day and make it yours?
Will you take this promise and place into in your life?

if you will give yourself to Jesus as your Saviour and Lord of your life,
He will come into your life and forgive you of all your sins and give you eternal life
and a home in heaven forever.
You will have glimpses of heaven on earth, and with all the other wonderful blessings that God gives,
and He verify to you this promise that we have through all our days, and He will love you,
and He will guide you, and He will hold you, and He will help you, and He will lead you until the day is done.

There is just one concern for everyone of us should have, and that concern is to be faithful to Jesus
every day of our lives.
There is one thing that we want to hear from Him when at last, we shall see Him face to face,
and that one thing is: "Well done, good and faithful servant."

His challenging word to us is: "Be thou faithful unto death."
He does not say "until death."
He does not mean that.

He says: "Be thou faithful unto death" -- faithful to the dying point.
Die any time, and die anywhere, before you will be unfaithful.
The one supreme canon of human conduct is:
"Is this right? Then I will do the right, though the heavens fall."
"Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give Thee a crown of life."

George Truett tells of an occasion where he had been invited to speak, and he stayed in the home
of a childhood friend.
He had finished his message, and he said to his friend that it was time for him to go
so he could catch the train to go home.

As they walked to the train, his friend said:
"Would you like for me to tell you the sweetest memory out of all my life?"
In his conversation, he reminded Truett that his Father was an invalid for years.
And because he was the only boy, in a houseful of sisters, and that the burdens of the family fell on him,
while sometimes he would chafe under the burdens, they were so trying and so heavy.

He told Truett about being with his invalid Father who was sitting on the porch in his favorite chair,
and that he said to his father: "Father, could you attend to certain little chores at the barn to-day?"
The father answered: "Why, certainly, son."

Jim told his father that he would be out plowing until after dark, and that if his father could take care
of those chores, that it would really help him.
The Father told him that he would be happy to do that for him

Jim came in after nightfall, and came to the porch where sat his Father was sitting.
And as they talked, Jim remembered what he asked asked his father to do.
So, he asked his father if he had taken care of the chores.

And his father answered with a pitiful sigh: "My boy, I am ashamed to tell you, I forgot all about it."

Jim said that he was so tired and that he was ready to speak to his father with angry words,
foe he was so tired, but he swallowed them, and instead said:
"Never mind, Father; I can fix it in a few minutes, and then I will come back and tell you some good news
about the lower farm.
I will soon fix it. Don't you worry, Father."

And the old father said, with surpassing pathos in his voice:
"Come back now, Jim. Come back now - right now."

Jim came back, and the old man said: "Come where I can feel you.
I can barely see you in the day time, and I cannot see you at all after night."

And Jim came back, the Father put his hands upon Jim's head, and then the old man sobbed
for a minute or two, unable to speak.
And when he could speak at last, he said:
"Oh, my boy, God bless you, just because you are always so faithful to duty!
You will never know what a comfort you are to me, you are so faithful, my son, to duty."

Jim said that he couldn't speak after that, but he got up and took care of the chores.
And when he came back, Jim was singing -- just feeling good that the day was done.

And as he approached the chair where his Father was sitting, he began talking to his father:
"Father," he said, but there was no response.
And again he said: "Father," but there was no answer.
And immediately, he was beside his Father checking for a pulse, but there was none.
He put his hands on his Father's heart, but it was not beating.

Out of the weariness and pain of life, the tired old man had gone to that land where there will be
no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain.

And then this good friend, said to me with a sob in his voice:
"Oh, sir, the sweetest memory of all is Father's word, 'God bless you, my boy!
You are such a comfort to me, because you are always so faithful to duty.'"

That is what I want to hear after I take my last breath, and I see Jesus.
Let us live utterly and only and always for Jesus Christ.
Let us trust Him till the day is done, and then go to be with Him and to be like Him forever.
"As thy days, so shall thy strength be."

The hymn, "One Day At A Time" says what I want to say:

"One day at a time sweet Jesus
That's all I'm asking from you.
Just give me the strength
To do everyday what I have to do.

Yesterday's gone sweet Jesus
And tomorrow may never be mine.
Lord help me today, show me the way
One day at a time.

Do you remember, when you walked among men?
Well Jesus you know if you're looking below
It's worse now, than then.
Cheating and stealing, violence and crime
So for my sake, teach me to take
One day at a time."

Sermon was adapted from several sources by Dr. Harold L. White