I’m strong to the finish
‘Cause I eats me spinach.
I’m Popeye the sailor man!
An all-time favorite cartoon show that still thrills kids today is Popeye. The plight of Popeye, Olive Oyl, and Bluto always seems to end the same way: Bluto kidnaps Olive Oyl and Popeye comes to the rescue. First, however, Popeye needs to pop the top off of his spinach can and ingest his favorite canned vegetable before his arms can explode with some powerful muscles that will save the day.
Finding instant strength isn’t only something for cartoons. Strange diets, unusual lifestyles, and various forms of meditation have all claimed to enhance one’s strength. In recent years professional sports has been plagued by athletes secretly medicating themselves to make them super athletes. Instant energy can even be found in tiny bottles of liquid located next to the cash registers at many grocery stores.
Why are some people so intent on increasing their strength? Might it be that they feel without some outside help, they are inherently weak? Might it be that they feel they cannot match the strength of others and thus be at a disadvantage?
Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the Persian King Artaxerxes I. Nehemiah wrote, “When wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king” (Nehemiah 2:1). The king sent Nehemiah to Jerusalem in 445 B.C. to serve as governor and to rebuild the temple and reconstruct the walls surrounding this once great city. But Nehemiah’s project was not without opposition. “When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites” (2:10). The builders were ridiculed as they worked: “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall?. . . Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?” (4:2). Eventually, Nehemiah and his workers needed to arm themselves as they worked feverishly to complete the project: “Half [the] men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. . . . Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other” (4:16,17).
Nehemiah confessed that not only were the enemies disturbing their work; they were also intimidating their minds. He wrote, “They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, ‘Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed’” (6:9). Then Nehemiah’s faith boldly proclaimed, “But I prayed, ‘Now strengthen my hands’” (6:9). Nehemiah needed more than a can of spinach. He needed the Lord’s mighty arm to give him the needed strength to complete his mission.
There are times in our lives when, like Nehemiah, we have to admit that we need the Lord to give us strength to face the enemy. Struggling finances, poor health, aging, strained relationships, and relentless feelings of guilt all sap our mental, physical, and emotional strength. Yet the Lord repeatedly assures us that “those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31).
Nehemiah received the extra strength he asked for. “So the wall was completed . . . in fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God” (Nehemiah 6:15,16). Nehemiah knew where to look for the strength to continue. Praise God that strength is also available to us today!
Prayer thought: Ask God to give y
ou strength to face this day and every day.
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