Deut 33
Deuteronomy is essentially a reiteration of the law by Moses to the Israelites. We know that the first generation of Israelites had passed away. They’re now at the plains of Mob, ready to enter the land of Canaan. Chapter 33 is really the final blessing of Moses on Israel by tribe. v25 records his blessing on the tribe of Asher.
v25 Your sandals shall be iron and bronze; as your days, so shall your strength be.

Just a slight digression: notice the English and Chinese translation for the first part is slightly different.
English: your sandals shall be iron and bronze
Chinese: the bolts of your gates shall be iron and bronze
Why is there a difference? That’s because the word used here is extremely rare. In fact it’s the only place in the Bible it’s used. So they don’t really know what this phrase refers to until today. A close word is ‘locks’ or ‘bolts’. This is the translation of the Chinese Bible. While NKJV follows the translation of the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament. In fact the translators then may have known what the word meant and translated it to sandals. So if the translation follows the Septuagint, it follows nicely from v24.
v24 “And let him dip his foot in oil”
v25 “Your sandals shall be iron and bronze”
Feet and sandals come together.

But anyway the focus of this sermon is the second part: as your days, so shall your strength be

Some translations translate it as: your strength will equal your days

This phrase is very popular. Especially in the prosperity gospel. Why? Because they like to apply this verse to their physical lives. “Even when you’re old, you will be strong and won’t fall sick. Because as your days are, so will your strength.” This is very appealing but has no biblical basis.

Physically, our bodies will only go downhill the older we grow, the weaker we become. That’s why Paul says our outward man is perishing. But Paul also tells us the inward man must be renewed day by day.

So even though this blessing can’t be applied physically, it can be applied to our spiritual lives. Spiritually, we need strength equal to our days. Sometimes the longer we believe, the weaker we become. There’re occasions we feel we had stronger faith in the past compared to now. That’s because walking the life of faith is not dependent on our own strength. We need spiritual strength that comes from God. We need spiritual strength that is equal to our days.

This sermon will look at 2 biblical characters. Their strength was truly equal to their days.

1. Sarah
   Heb 11:11
   Here tells us of a woman of faith. She’s one of the few women recorded in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11. The author of Hebrews tells us that Sarah received strength BY faith. The first thing we note here is that SPIRITUAL strength has nothing to do with age. Physically, our strength will just decline with age. Our physical strength usually peaks in our 20s. Then it’ll slowly decline as we age. But over here tells us with regards to matters of faith, strength comes only by faith. It has nothing to do with age. It has EVERYTHING to do with faith. It fact, Steve goth is commensurate with our faith. If you have littler faith, you will have little strength. If you have great faith, you will have threat strengths.

Therefore when we read this verse, we can conclude the faith of Sarah was a very great one, because the strength she received was a very great one. We all know the strength a mother needs to have to give birth. She needs to bear the child for 10 months and then go into labour. Sarah was past the age. In Genesis, we know she was 89 years old. That was old, even in those times. It wasn’t possible for her to give birth anymore.

But here tells us, by faith, she received strength. She received strength to conceive seed and give birth to a child. So her strength was commensurate with her faith.

Now of course when we read this particular verse, a question naturally comes to our mind. Over here really extols the faith of Sarah, but did Sarah really have faith?

Gen 18:10
The person who spoke these words is God Himself. He declared to Abraham that by this time next year, Sarah would be with child. She was just standing by the door behind the person. What was her reaction?
v12 She laughed within herself.
She could not believe what God told her. It was only natural for her to laugh. Because v11 says she was already old past the age of childbearing. To her, it was ridiculous. “How can I be a mother anymore?”

Why then does the author of Hebrews say Sarah conceived a child by faith. It is interesting, because Sarah did not seem to be a woman of faith here.

The translators of the NIV Bible actually translated this verse entirely differently in the 1984 edition.

“By faith, Abraham, even though he was past the age, and then Sarah herself was barren, was enabled to become a father because he considered Him faithful who had made the promise.”
So instead of Sarah, we have Abraham being the man of faith. This is just for reference. Because NIV in 2011 reverted to the translation we read here. Instead of Abraham, it was changed back to Sarah who had faith.

Actually, it’s not too difficult to believe Sarah had faith. A simple way to reconcile this is: probably she didn’t have faith. That’s why she laughed and God asked her why she laughed. Later on she believed. Just because you don’t have faith now doesn’t mean you don’t have faith in the future. It’s very very crucial in the story for Sarah to have faith. Because the promise of God wasn’t just to Abraham, it was also given to Sarah. It cannot just be anyone. It cannot be Hagar. Sarah had to be the one to bear the child of promise.

So Sarah is not a calefare/a side note of the promise of God. She was the recipient of the promise of God to be a mother of nations. And the promise of God can only be received by faith. This is the crux of the entire chapter of Heb 11. This is the fundamental truth of God: without faith it’s impossible to please God. In order to receive the promise of God, we need to have faith.

If we examine the story of Sarah closely, why did God appear to them at THIS POINT IN TIME to tell them they would have a child? Before Gen 18, God only appeared to Abraham. He always spoke to Abraham even when He changed her name from Sarai to Sarah. But on this occasion, God especially spoke these words for the sake of Sarah. So that she could hear what God was going to do. Why was this the case? Because she had lost faith. She didn’t believe anymore. She had lost her strength with time. This is only natural, as you age, you lose strength. As a result of this loss of strength, she lost her faith as well.

God wanted her to regain her faith. Only with faith could she have strength to bear a child. Strength comes by faith. Strength equal to our days only comes by faith.

Very often the test of time is also the greatest test of our faith. Especially for those who have been praying for a long time. Then we don’t have our prayers answered. We might feel disappointed. In the past, we still have a lot of strength to pray. But as time passes, our strength starts to waver. When so much time has passed, we feel we don’t even have the strength to bring ourselves to pray. But whenever we feel that we are without strength, let us be reminded of the example of Sarah. SHE received strength because she judged Him faithful who had promised. WE will also receive strength if we believe in HIM who has promised. Therefore let us not grow weak in faith. As our days, so shall our strength be.

1. Moses
   Deut 34:7
   Moses is another character whose strength was equal to his days. He died at the age of 120. This is considered a long life even during the time of Moses, because Moses himself says, “If you’re strong, you only live up to 80.” So he lived a very long life. And he didn’t just live a long life, here tells us his body did not get bogged down with age. His eyes weren’t dimmed. We know longsightedness comes with age. The speaker read online that after passing the age of 40, one develops longsightedness very quickly. But Moses had perfect eyesight to 120. His natural vigour/strength did not diminish. He was as strong as ever at 120! In fact we see the perfect example on this chapter.

v1 “Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah”
At 120, he was able to climb up to Mount Nebo. The speaker doesn’t know how high Mount Nebo is, but the speaker can only climb up Bukit Timah Hill lol. At 80, Moses climbed Mount Sinai. At 120, Moses climbed Mount Nebo. What happened to Moses won’t happen to any of us, because God had given Moses a very special job. In fact v10 says that Moses’ calling was so special, there was no prophet like Moses after him.

This strength was needed to fulfil the work of God. If we take a look at the life of Moses, it can be divided into 3 stages. The first 40 years in the palace, probably a life of pleasure and enjoyment. The next 40 years as a shepherd in Midian. This is more taxing than being a prince in the palace. But the last 40 years of his life, when he led the Israelites out of Egypt, we know it was very taxing from the records we read. This was physically, mentally and emotionally taxing.

The speaker read recently there was a student in the US who wrote a letter to the premier of China, Xi Jin Ping. He asked him, “How is your job like leading a country?” He replied that his job was very tiring. The speaker believes it was even more tiring for Moses. He didn’t just need to take care of their physical needs, but also their spiritual needs. He needed to judge many matters in the country. Jethro advised him to distribute the work. But Moses himself still needed to judge the difficult cases. Let us not think that it’s an easy job.

There was once the speaker and his brother went to the police station to handle the change of their address on their IC. A person in front lodged a report with the police officer. When they arrived, she had already spoken to the officer for a few hours regarding her case. When she left, the police officer turned to his colleague next to him, “Wah I need a break. Please take over.” That was just one case. Imagine Moses had to judge all the difficult cases in the nation.

And it wasn’t just physical and mental. It was also very emotionally taxing. He had to take all the criticisms from the people all the time. No water? His fault. Thrice there was no water. It was always his fault. No food? His fault. No meat? Also his fault. Once the Bible records the people complained against him without stating the reason, they just complained. His siblings were jealous and spoke against him. The gang of Koran were jealous and spoke against him. When the people felt that they couldn’t conquer the land of Canaan, it was also his fault. They even wanted to stone him. When the people couldn’t enter the land of Canaan, it was also his fault. When the people were killed by God, they blamed him again. When the people were discouraged, they blamed him as well.

If we put ourselves in his shoes, how many of us can take these kind of criticisms? Without throwing the towel and giving up, imagine you’re the GA of the church. The light bulb is spoilt? Your fault. No toilet paper? Your fault. Church hall dirty? Your fault. Leaves on the ground? Your fault. Everything that goes wrong is your fault.

If there’s only one member who has a problem with you, maybe can still bear. But it was hundred or thousands of times worse for Moses. Imagine how much he had to bear.

Num 11:14-15
These were really the words of an exasperated person. Because Moses is really on the brink of breakdown. “Please kill me here and now. Do not let me see my own wretchedness. This burden You have given me is too heavy for me.” Moses was not able to take it anymore. But we know God provided him a way out. He was still able to continue for the next 40 years of his life by the grace of God. Deuteronomy records the end of his life. When he pronounces the blessing on the tribe of Asher “as your days are, so your strength will be”, Moses must’ve felt these words very strongly. He must’ve reflected on his own life. As he reflected on his own life, especially the last 40 years of his life, he must’ve thought about how the grace of God sustained him each and every day of his life.

In our everyday life, we sometimes feel like we’re Moses. We face burdens we feel we cannot bear. Not everyday of our lives is smooth sailing. There will be difficult days. There will be days of trials. There will be days we are physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. There’ll be days we feel we have no strength to deal with the burdens of the day. But through all these days, with the grace of God, His strength helps us to bear the unbearable.

2 Cor 4:7-10
We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed. Why is that the case? Because we have this treasure in earthen vessels. This refers to the Holy Spirit God has given us. Without the Holy Spirit, we would have been crushed. Because who are we? We’re just earthen vessels. We’re made of dust. You press us any harder, and we’ll be crushed. But with the Holy Spirit in us, we are hard pressed but not crushed. Perplexed but not in despair. Struck down but not destroyed. God knows each and every day of our lives. God will not give us burdens beyond what we can bear. He will give us the strength to bear the burden each day.

In conclusion, we see that strength that’s equal to our days comes from our faith. God will also give us the strength we need each day to bear with our burdens. The question is whether we’re willing to bear the burden God wants us to bear. If we’re not willing to bear the burden, how can we experience the strength of God? Moses took up the burden. He experienced the strength of God. In fact we are more blessed than Moses. Our Lord Jesus has already come in the flesh and overcome the world. His strength enables us to face each day. Let us then face each day courageously with faith. This is the blessing of God: as our days so will our strength be.