Devotionals

When My Strength Fails

by Leona Mingo
07/21/26
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“I have become as a wonder to many, but You are my strong refuge. Let my mouth be filled with Your praise and with Your glory all the day. Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails. For my enemies speak against me; and those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together, saying, ‘God has forsaken him; pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him.’

O God, do not be far from me; O my God, make haste to help me! Let them be confounded and consumed who are adversaries of my life; let them be covered with reproach who seek my hurt.” Psalms 71: 7-13

The psalmist, most likely David, would have been a wonder to many considering his survival in the relentless assault upon his life. Though a wonder to others as to his triumphing in adverse circumstances, David knew the reason for his preservation...“You are my strong refuge.” He had no doubt in his mind about this and proclaimed it to be so all the day long.

Age was advancing upon him and less and less could he rely upon his natural defences against any form of challenge, be it physically, mentally or spiritually. Because of this he reaffirms his need of the Lord and what a helpless state he would be in should the Lord cast him off (which He wouldn’t do).

If others perceived him as forsaken, opportunities may be seized to take advantage of this, but any senior stands taller when the Lord stands with them. The psalmist needed the assurance of His presence as he entered his “twilight” years for only then could he stand firm against the inevitable challenges of aging. “O God, do not be far from me;”. When he found his strength to be waning he needed, as never before, a strength beyond his own.

Because I began my life without strength and I may very well end my life without strength, I rest in the assurance that the same care from the Lord that has carried me all these years will continue to support me by its steadfastness to the end, by His grace and for His glory.