Cough Drop Encouragements - by Susan Jensen

Recently both Tom and I had been battling coughs. Welcome to spring in Michigan.  One of the mainstays in our arsenal was cough drops.  At the tail end of sniffles and coughs we were in South Carolina visiting with our girls so we went to their church Sunday morning.  The sermon that morning was “No King - But God – Strength in Weakness” based on Judges 7 and 8.

Naturally, just as the worship center gets quieter and the pastor begins to get to the meat of the message… that darn cough set in, so I slipped a cough drop out of my purse.  In my fidgeting with the wrapper I noticed, there were little inspirational messages on the inside … YOU can do it… You can handle it… nothing is too big for YOU. I couldn’t miss the irony. Isn’t that the way of our world, with its focus on self-achievement.   I have to admit, I have even done that with our girls as they were growing up.  “Don’t worry, you can handle this, think of all you have already accomplished.”  “You have a natural talent for that.”  “You are doing a wonderful job.”  Of course, all I was trying to do was nurture their talents and confidence… but WOW – this message the pastor was preaching was hitting me square in the forehead.

Judges 7 verse 2  The Message  God said to Gideon, “You have too large an army with you. I can’t turn Midian over to them like this—they’ll take all the credit, saying, ‘I did it all myself,’ and forget about me.

It is so easy to get puffed up and full of self-satisfaction when everything goes right or something great is accomplished, but we need to remember to give God the credit and praise. It is in remembering to praise God for all He provides and the help He gives that we are truly strengthened and encouraged.  Just think of it, what would you (or your children if you are encouraging them) rather rely on, your own strength or the promise from God that He is all we need and He will never leave us.  I love the Holman Christian Standard Bible interpretation of Psalm 23 verse 1 “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack.”   That just says it all!