God Is AbleSample

God Is Able to Renew Our Strength

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” (1 Peter 5:8–10)

In 1965, the coach of the University of Florida football team, Ray Graves, approached the faculty at the College of Medicine with a request for help. Practicing and playing in the intense heat and humidity of Florida was physically draining his players. He wanted to know if they could develop something to replace the fluids they were losing through sweat. Dr. Robert Cade led a team of researchers who created an electrolyte drink for that purpose. After successful testing with a small group of players, it was given to the entire team. In the 1967 Orange Bowl, Florida defeated Georgia Tech, and after the game, Georgia Tech’s coach Bobby Dodd remarked, “We didn’t have Gatorade. That made the difference.”

All of us “sweat” from the pressures, exertions, and trials of life. We grow weary. We become exhausted. Sometimes the weight of responsibility, disappointment, spiritual opposition, and unanswered questions drains us more deeply than physical labor ever could.

But unlike a sports drink with limited effectiveness, God’s strength is unending and inexhaustible, and we have full access to it through His grace. He is not limited by our weakness or depleted by our need. He is able to strengthen us, restore us, and carry us through whatever we face. We have only to turn to Him for His renewing grace. “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

Today’s Takeaway: God is able to renew our strength through His grace, and His resources never run dry.