Growing Strong In God's Arms

Growing Strong In God’s Arms

1 Samuel 24:1-22 Psalm 18:29-32 1 Peter 4:12-17

Men, what comes to mind when you think of a strong man? Do you see someone with muscles bulging out? Do you see someone with a lot of money? Do you see someone with the power to attract women? Jesus was no doubt the strongest man to walk the face of the earth. He could move mountains, stop raging seas and knock demons on every occasion, but he had no bulging muscles.

He could very influence the wealthy to spend their money and even leave it behind, but he died with no money in his pockets. He attracted women wherever he went, and he left them just as pure as when he found them but the Bible says there was nothing attractive about Him that we would desire Him.

You have chosen a very challenging theme, because it asserts several things that a man ought to be doing if he is to become the man God calls him to be. First we find the man growing. No man should be the same man he is to day, that he was five years ago. He should be becoming a better husband, a more loving father, a more effective servant of Christ. He needs to be growing.

The second part is a man growing strong. You see it is possible for us to be growing in the wrong direction. We can grow weaker if we do not intentionally make the choice to grow stronger. All athlete has to do to grow weaker, is to do nothing to improve. Ask your neighbor, what are you doing to improve?

The third part is to man growing stronger in God. You see all the other activities that we are a part of will one day come to an end. You can invest in your business, your job or your career, but it will end. You can invest in your family, your children, and your wife, an that’s excellent and noteworthy but they too will end. The only thing and the only relationship will that will not end is with God. So we ought to be growing stronger in God.

The fourth part is in arms. Arms are there for support. Arms are there for encouragement. Arms there for love to share joy and excitement. We as men are all going to need some support. We all are going to need some encouragement. We all are going to need some love.

The greatest place to find these things are going to be in the arms of God. Every wise man realizes that he has been called to dedicate his life to growing strong in God’s arms.

Life is a challenge. It is not easy living life as the men God calls us to be. Sometimes its due to our own desires, which are selfish in and of themselves. But sometimes its because God is at work in us to make us strong by forcing us to rely upon strength which is only found in God’s arms. You see we cannot always get ourselves out of every jam we find ourselves involved in.

There are going to be times in our lives, when God is going to want to do something great in and through us. Even though we may know its going to happen, we have to be careful not to force some things to happen to soon. Sometimes we have to wait for God’s timing to make it happen.

I was given Psalm 18 as the place from which your theme has its roots. That Psalm is written by David. Do you remember who he was? David was the youngest of eight sons of a man named Jesse. His father did not think much of him, and had pretty much written him off. But God saw something special in the heart of David. God sent the prophet Samuel to anoint David to one day be the future king of the nation of Israel.

The only problem was there was already a king over the nation of Israel. But God started preparing David to become a great leader who would trust himself to God’s loving arms and care. In the beginning the lessons were great. David killed the giant Goliath and everyone rejoiced.

He was made the general of King Saul’s army, and God led him from one victory to another. You talk about timing. David was in the right place at the right time, and the enemy was defeated time and time again. The way God was preparing him for his future job was amazing. People would look at him and say, now there’s a young that is growing strong in God’s arms.

But then David had to learn not only how to handle success as God prepared him to become king, he also had to learn how to handle defeat as God continued to prepare him for being king. Do you realize , where ever God is leading in your life, you have to know how to handle success and disappointments?