“Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time He said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.” (2 Corinthians 12:8-10 NLT)
If the Lord wasn’t able or chose not to use us in our weakness, there wouldn’t be much left of me for Him to use. In this season of my life, I don’t have a lot of physical strength, because of arthritis in my hands it’s very difficult to even open a jar. But by God’s grace and in His mercy, He’s chosen to use us as we are, not as we once were, or wished we were now.
Recently, I read a quote, but was unable to verify who wrote it, that said: “If you don’t have something, you must not need it to do God’s will.” As we age, we’re prone to lose things, not only literal things like keys and wallets, but energy, coordination, strength, memory, and, in varying degrees, our ability to think clearly. Of one thing I’m certain, we will always have everything we need to do the complete will of God for our lives.
Jorge Rosario wrote: “I was walking home from work one brisk Monday evening. But I didn’t want to go home; I was dreading sharing the news with my wife. The 15-minute walk ended abruptly at my front door, not allowing ample time to prepare. Then I opened the door to find my wife in the kitchen with tears in her eyes. I asked what was wrong, and she replied, ‘I got laid off.’ To which I replied, ‘Me too.’”
Having been out of work, without any source of income, yet, still able to marvel at how God made a way for me, strengthened my faith and built my trust in a God who is ALWAYS my Provider, my good, good Father. Elisabeth Elliot wrote: “God never withholds from His child that which His love and wisdom call good. God’s refusals are always merciful – ‘severe mercies’ at times but mercies all the same. God never denies us our hearts desire except to give us something better.”
The Psalmist reminds us: “What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord…” (Psalm 84:5a) Do you desire to learn to depend on God for your strength in times of weakness? To trust Him to be your strength? Rick Warren wrote in a recent devotional: “Hudson Taylor was an influential missionary to China in the 19th century. He was a spiritual giant and a brilliant man. In his old age, he lost his health and became quite weak. He wrote a letter to a friend that said, ‘I am so weak I can no longer work. I am so weak I can no longer study. I am so weak I can no longer read my Bible. I cannot even pray. I can only lie still in the arms of God like a little child in trust.’”
We’re so prone to think something is wrong when we experience loss, setbacks, or heartache. Is it something we did? Are we failing God in some way? Why is God punishing me? Not stopping to realize that gain nearly always includes loss. To grow in Christ’s likeness will, by virtue of the transformation God is doing in us, necessitate change, which implies loss as well as gain.
Think of the life, death, and resurrection of our Savior. For a Jesus follower there is no life without death, no death without resurrection, and no resurrection without eternal life. Our call is to die to self, to be one with the Lord, that we may walk in submission to His authority in our life, leading us to eternal life in heaven. That process demands weakness in our life as it did in Jesus’, but as it led to good in and through Jesus’ life, God designed and desires that to be the same process in our life, because that’s when weakness is good.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 