Here’s an important biblical principal…in our weakness we experience God’s strength.
Weakness is not celebrated by our culture. It is not praised. It is not valued. You won’t get your face on the cover of a magazine for being the weakest person. But God doesn’t evaluate us the way the world does.
Our weakness opens the door for you and I to experience the strength of God in ways we never have before.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 - “ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
What was Paul’s weakness? We’re not exactly sure. Regardless of what it was, Paul was impressed by the fact that God could use a weakness to make him strong. There is power in weakness Paul learned; a power that cannot be made available in any other way. Paul is the great expert on weakness. Out of 33 references to weakness in the New Testament, Jesus used the word once, Peter used it once, and all the rest are from the pen of Paul.
Every one of us has weaknesses. Weakness can be defined as any limitation we cannot change. Our weaknesses may be circumstantial. Perhaps you were born with them. Your weakness may be financial, or relational, or emotional. You have a tendency to depression, fear or worry. It could be that your weakness is a lack of ability. Or, it could be that your weakness is physical - a handicap of some kind. Your weakness could also be your past.
What do we do with our weaknesses? Normally we deny them. Sometimes we try to defend them. Or, we may excuse them or hide them. God, however, wants to use them.
Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, knew the secret of strength through weakness. Complimented once by a friend on the impact of the mission, Hudson answered, “It seemed to me that God looked over the whole world to find a man who was weak enough to do His work, and when He at last found me, He said, ‘He is weak enough-he’ll do.’” All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them.”
Here’s an interesting question: Are you weak enough for God to use you? As long as we are independent, self-reliant, and self-absorbed, God cannot use us. But when we turn to him and say, God I’m weak and I’m desperate for your presence and power, it’s then that God can use your life.
All of us are clearly inadequate, and have fewer gifts than we wish we had. None of us are all that we want to be, and so we think we can do very little for the kingdom of God.
Yet, the facts of Scripture and history tell us that all of us can do great things for God; not because we are able to, but just because we are not able. It is not ability, but availability that God wants. Remember, his power is made perfect in our weakness.
If you take inventory of all the Bible characters, each and every one of them were flawed. But through their stories we learn that God uses weak people to show his power.
Today’s Challenge: What’s the weakness in your life you want to hide the most?
It’s time you give it to God to use for his greater purpose. God can and will use anyone who doesn’t hold anything back—even their greatest weakness.
