What does it mean that “the Lord is my strength and my song” (Exodus 15:2)?

Answer

After God led the nation of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and delivered the people through the miracle at the Red Sea, Moses and the people of Israel praised God, their deliverer, in a song. “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.”, (Exodus 15:1). This song included the assertion that “the Lord is my strength and my song” “The LORD is my strength and song, And he is become my salvation: He is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; My father’s God, and I will exalt him.”, (Exodus 15:2). For more than four hundred years, the people of Israel had longed for freedom but did not have the strength to deliver themselves. At the proper time, God brought about their deliverance, and in this moment of thanksgiving, the people acknowledged that He was their strength.

Later, after God led the people of Israel through the wilderness for forty years (as a judgment for their unbelief and stubbornness), Moses reminded the people that God had provided them with manna (a bread-like substance from heaven) so that they would recognize that God was their strength and sustenance, and that their subsistence and wealth were not of their own making “and thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.”, (Deuteronomy 8:17). God was doing good for Israel, helping them to have humility and recognize that God was their strength—they shouldn’t look to themselves and their own strength.

The psalmist in Psalm 18:1 recognizes GodAs “my strength” and expands that concept, lauding Him as the psalmist’s rock, fortress, and deliverer «The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. », (Psalm 18:2). David calls God his strength and his shield «The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him. », (Psalm 28:7). He proclaims in song that he will sing of God’s strength and praises God who is his strength (Psalm 59:16-17). In these passages, we see the close relationship between God being our strength and His being worthy of praise in song. In Moses and Israel’s Exodus 15 song, they sing that “the Lord is my strength and my song.” If not for God’s strength exerted on behalf of Israel, Israel would have no song. In fact, they wouldn’t have even been alive to sing a song.

God had delivered Israel miraculously, and, for the moment at least, the nation was grateful and praised Him, acknowledging Him as their strength and song. Sometimes in our own lives, we fail to see how great and beneficial God’s works are in our lives, and we either credit ourselves for our successes or we simply don’t acknowledge Him. How sad that we might think for even a moment that our strength is our own when everything we have is from Him.