From Strength to Strength
Last summer, our family bought season passes to a local amusement park. We’d arrive in the morning, full of energy and excitement, ready to get in as many rides as we could. But by mid-afternoon, our strength and energy were usually lagging far behind our earlier enthusiasm. One day, we stayed even longer than usual because we’d brought some friends along to the park. It was very sunny, high nineties, and humid. We walked more than six miles. And by the time we left, many hours later, I felt deeply exhausted. As we walked from the park exit to our minivan, I found myself focusing on each step, just willing my body toward the air conditioning and a place to sit.
In the natural, we go from strength to weakness. From strong to weary. The longer we walk, the more tired we become. Walking six miles in the sun on a hot and humid day will rapidly drain our strength. But the Bible says spiritual strength works differently.
The prophet Isaiah declared, “But those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint” (Isa. 40:31 CSB). Instead of strength that runs out, we can have strength that renews. Strength that defies weariness and fainting even after great exertion.
This sounds amazing, but let’s be real. Most of us have much more experience with strength that runs out than we do with strength that endures and renews.
I’m currently in a season of emotional healing, and sometimes it is deeply exhausting. That is normal, yet I also believe God’s strength is enough for even those weakest, weariest places. So I’ve been asking God, “How do I connect with your renewable strength? How I do keep from becoming weary even after a very long and sweaty walk?”
One of my favorite passages in the Psalms illustrates this beautifully:
Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion (Psalm 84:5-7 NIV).
The first verse shows us that finding our strength in God is linked to having hearts set on pilgrimage. A pilgrimage is a journey for religious purposes. So, in the context of finding our strength in God, positioning ourselves as pilgrims means embracing the journey God has us on—both our outward journey of following his leadership and our inward journey of healing and maturation.
The second verse makes it clear that this journey with God sometimes takes us through the Valley of Baka—or the Valley of Weeping. Grief is a normal part of life. Yet for those who find their strength in God, the places of loss can become places of abundance and refreshment. But this doesn’t just happen. The psalmist says, “They make it a place of springs.” We cause this transformation through our reliance on God’s strength and our determination to stay on pilgrimage, even through the hardest places.
The third verse defines what exactly is happening on this pilgrimage—going from strength to strength until we reach Zion. Sometimes we can think of God’s strength as this perfect ideal on the far end of the spectrum from our weakness—but this view makes his strength seem unattainable. Instead, the psalmist says we find our strength in God by going from strength to strength—by growing in his strength incrementally. The more often we practice leaning into his strength, the more we know how to do it.
Every time we need strength—every time we are wearied or worn out by life—pressing into our current revelation of God’s strength in our lives propels us into a greater experience of God’s strength. We go from our current experience into another level of strength—over and over again.
We learn to lean into his strength one step at a time until we reach Zion. In the Old Testament, Zion symbolizes a place of refuge and safety. Christians have also often used it as a symbol of our heavenly dwelling. We reach this place of refuge in God by incrementally leveling up, from strength to strength to strength, on our pilgrimage.
This is so simple. God’s strength for our journey is not unattainable. And we are not too weak. He’s OK with our process of learning how to trust him, how to lean into his strength, because he knows that as we step out in trust, we will grow. Our imperfect reliance on him develops as we simply say yes to the journey.
This is how we access the spiritual strength that renews. This is how we find the quality of strength that enables us to grow stronger as we go instead of becoming increasingly worn down and weary.
This is the vision the apostle Paul laid before us in his prayer for the Colossians, praying that they would be “strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience” (Col. 1:11 NIV).
And it is the legacy of the heroes of faith, “…whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies” (Heb. 11:34 NIV).
As we step out in trust—even when our faith seems weak—we begin a pilgrimage from strength to strength in which God teaches us how to not only find healing and blessing in places of grief, but also to win our battles with his mighty strength.
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