Gleanings for November 30

THE LORD: OUR STRONG TOWER

Proverbs 18: 10 NKJV “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe (secure, set on high.)”

“The Name of the Lord is a strong fortress; the godly run to Him and are safe.” New Living Bible Translation

The Amplified Bible says this: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the consistently righteous person, upright and in right standing with God runs into it (Him) and is safe, high above evil and strong.”

Here is one more translation—which I feel cements the truth we want to emphasize today:

The Berkeley Bible: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; into it runs the righteous and cannot be touched: (because it is above danger)

For some months one year, some of the children and grandchildren would come to my home for early Morning Prayer. One morning someone prayed these words: “Thank you that the joy of the Lord is our strength and that the strength of the Lord is our joy.” That last phrase especially caught my attention.

As I thought about the Lord’s strength being the source of our joy, I began looking into the meaning of “strength”. Part of the definition from Strong’s Concordance is: “To be firm and strong.”

It then said this: “David danced before the Lord with all his strength.” David was very likely “joyful” when he put forth the effort to dance before the Lord “with all His strength”.

An interesting side-note about the word “strength”—in Greek it is rendered “oz”. Most likely you, who have children, have watched the movie, “The Wizard of Oz.” In that film, the Wizard was supposedly “strong.”

Our strength does not come from a wizard, nor is it from any human being but our strength comes from our Father God, Who has revealed Himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

He is the One Person Who has touched our universe to the extent that even the people who do not acknowledge Him as Lord, probably know that there was a Baby born in Bethlehem of Judea many years ago. The business world starts earlier each year, reminding us of Christmas—urging us to buy “things”. Be thankful you know where TRUE JOY comes from.

Jesus came to bring LIFE and that more abundantly. He is the reason for ANY season in life. We owe our very life to Him and we can “run to Him” and not be in fear as we face the future.

He is our “strong tower” our “fortress” which cannot be shaken—the strength of the Lord is our joy; and most assuredly,

THE JOY OF THE LORD IS OUR STRENGTH!!!