2/22 Spurgeon Today

“His bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by
the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.” — Genesis 49:24

That strength which God gives to His Josephs is real strength; it is not a
boasted valour, a fiction, a thing of which men talk, but which ends in
smoke; it is true — divine strength. Why does Joseph stand against
temptation? Because God gives him aid. There is nought that we can do
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.” Thus God is represented as putting His hands on
Joseph’s hands, placing His arms on Joseph’s arms. Like as 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.” Now, wherever you read of the God of Jacob in the
Bible, you should remember the covenant with Jacob. Christians 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, flow to us from the
well-head, through the covenant. If there were no covenant, then we should
fail indeed; for all grace proceeds from it, as light and heat from the sun. No
angels ascend or descend, save upon that ladder which Jacob saw, at the
top of which stood a covenant God. Christian, it may be that the archers
have sorely grieved you, and shot at you, and wounded you, but still your
bow abides in strength; be sure, then, to ascribe all the glory to Jacob’s
God.