Believers can strengthen the hands of the wicked by approving of their works or remaining silent concerning their God’s view of those wicked works.
Strength is not tested or demonstrated during times of ease. Rather, it is during times of adversity that one finds out just how strong he is.
Sin causes a man's strength to fail. On the contrary, "the way of the LORD is strength to the upright." Man's choice to sin will eradicate his strength.
A wise man is strong and a man of knowledge increases strength. While the world focuses on physical strength, the greater strength is that which is spiritual.
Solomon's mother advised him not to give his strength unto women. He ignored this advice and his wives turned away his heart after other gods.
The unity of believers is likened to a cord woven together. Like a threefold cord, unified believers are stronger and better able to endure the attacks from their enemies (Ecclesiastes 4:12). In Proverbs 6:16-19, the Lord gives a list of things He hates, one of which is when a man sows “discord among brethren.” What does it mean to sow “discord”? Perhaps the illustration given above sheds the necessary light for an answer. When believers are united, they are like multiple cords woven together. When someone sows discord, he attempts to undo or “discord” the threefold cord destroying the unity. Believers void of unity are weaker and more vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy.
People unite over various causes. Some of those causes are righteous, while others are not. Unity based upon a righteous cause pleases the Lord and leads to righteous acts. Unity based upon ungodly or carnal causes grieves the Lord and leads to the wickedness we find so prevalent in the world today. After the flood, the Lord commanded Noah and his family to “replenish the earth” (Genesis 9:1). They could not replenish the earth if they remained together so the Lord wanted Noah’s family to spread out across the earth. Yet, the people immediately began settling together and “Noah began to be an husbandman” (Genesis 9:20). This may seem insignificant, but it was only the precursor to the unified desire in Genesis 11:4 to build “a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven.” Noah’s disobedience led to further and greater disobedience and unity in a common wicked cause.
