It is said that a crocodile’s jaw strength can be up to 3,700 psi (pounds per square inch). However, it appears to be nowhere near as strong as a mother who needs to save her child. In this story, the daughter in this situation was 25-years old. This story demonstrates that a mother’s love and need to protect her young does not pass as children age.
Rohima was just your average mom living in a village in Indonesia. She had decided to go out for a run when she heard a sound no mother wants to hear -the terrifying screams of her 25-year-old daughter, Trisna. The type of scream all moms know instantly in their gut, that something is very wrong.
When she met up with her daughter, she was horrified, her daughter’s leg was clenched in the mouth of an 18-foot-croc. Rohima immediately went into fight mode and started kicking the creature. When that did not work, she wrenched open the jaws of the crocodile with her bare hands. Trisna got her leg free. She did have to receive 50 stitches, but she was alive thanks to her mother.
We read stories of people like Rohima performing feats of super-human strength, but even greater than super-human strength is supernatural power that exceeds human and super-human strength.
In the 14th verse of Judges chapter 6 we read, “The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the power of Midian. Am I not sending you?” How much extra strength was God going to give Gideon to destroy the Midianites? ________________
The answer is none. God said, “Go in the strength you have.” Likewise, God has given you and your church what you need to be obedient to Him. There is not one thing God has called you to do that He has not also equipped and resourced you for. We only need to trust and act in obedience. The nation Israel had acted in disobedience and had suffered seven (7) years as consequence for their disobedience.
Could much of what we see in our churches and thus in our culture be due to our (Christians) disobedience to God Almighty?
In Scrappy Church, Thom Rainer writes, “You can’t have a victim mentality with the mind of Christ. You can’t conclude you have a shortage of resources…” As with Gideon, we need to trust God. We are to go in the strength He has given us. After all, if we believe God lives in us through the Holy Spirit, then we cannot deny having every resource possibly available.
In 2019, let us Go in the strength He, God, has given us! May His will be accomplished by the power of The Holy Spirit, as we fulfill His purpose in our lives. That’s why He has left us here. Go in God’s Power through 2019!
George Yates is the Church Health Strategist for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, assisting churches and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Learn more at ALSBOM.org/revitalization.
