"The arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob" Gen 49 : 24
The strength which God gave to His Joseph, is real strength; it is not a boasted valour, a fiction, just a thing of which men talk, but which ends in smoke; it was true -- divine strength.
How did Joseph stand against temptation? God gave him aid. We can do nothing without the power of God. All true strength comes from "the mighty God of Jacob." Notice in what a blessedly familiar way God gives this strength to Joseph --
"The arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob." God is represented as putting His hands on Joseph's hands, placing His arms on Joseph's arms. Like a father teaches his children, so the Lord teaches them that fear Him. He puts His arms upon them.
Marvellous condescension! God Almighty, Eternal, Omnipotent, stoops from His throne and lays His hand upon the child's hand, stretching His arm upon the arm of Joseph, that he may be made strong! This strength was also covenant strength, for it is ascribed to "the mighty God of Jacob."
Wherever we read of the God of Jacob in the Bible, we should remember the covenant with Jacob. We love to think of God's covenant. All the power, all the grace, all the blessings, all the mercies, all the comforts, all the things we have, that flow to us from that fount of blessing, through the covenant. If there were no covenant, then we should fail indeed; for all grace proceeds from it, as light and heat proceed from the sun.
No angels ascend or descend, save upon that ladder which Jacob saw, at the top of which stood a covenant God.
Fellow Christian, it may be that the archers have sorely grieved you, and shot at you, and wounded you, but be assured your bow still abides in strength; be sure, then, to ascribe all the glory to Jacob's God.
C.H.Spurgeon
The strength which God gave to His Joseph, is real strength; it is not a boasted valour, a fiction, just a thing of which men talk, but which ends in smoke; it was true -- divine strength.
How did Joseph stand against temptation? God gave him aid. We can do nothing without the power of God. All true strength comes from "the mighty God of Jacob." Notice in what a blessedly familiar way God gives this strength to Joseph --
"The arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob." God is represented as putting His hands on Joseph's hands, placing His arms on Joseph's arms. Like a father teaches his children, so the Lord teaches them that fear Him. He puts His arms upon them.
Marvellous condescension! God Almighty, Eternal, Omnipotent, stoops from His throne and lays His hand upon the child's hand, stretching His arm upon the arm of Joseph, that he may be made strong! This strength was also covenant strength, for it is ascribed to "the mighty God of Jacob."
Wherever we read of the God of Jacob in the Bible, we should remember the covenant with Jacob. We love to think of God's covenant. All the power, all the grace, all the blessings, all the mercies, all the comforts, all the things we have, that flow to us from that fount of blessing, through the covenant. If there were no covenant, then we should fail indeed; for all grace proceeds from it, as light and heat proceed from the sun.
No angels ascend or descend, save upon that ladder which Jacob saw, at the top of which stood a covenant God.
Fellow Christian, it may be that the archers have sorely grieved you, and shot at you, and wounded you, but be assured your bow still abides in strength; be sure, then, to ascribe all the glory to Jacob's God.
C.H.Spurgeon
