Sometimes it's feeling helpless when I see a child who is in so much pain and I can't do anything to make them better. Sometimes it's being sick and exhausted and wanting to be at home where it's comfortable. Sometimes it's when my patience is wearing thin and I feel like I'm going to have a nervous breakdown if I see one more ant.
At first, it overwhelmed me. When you go into mission work, your expectations are not that God is sending you overseas to be confronted head-on with ALL your weaknesses. Yet, that is exactly what has been happening.
God has really been having to teach me to be content in my weakness. Seeing poverty, sickness, and devastation has a way of making us feel helpless and powerless. We wish with all our might that we could change the circumstances, and in some cases we can, but the truth is that the overwhelming majority of problems are outside our control. That is where God comes in. The reason I'm beginning to learn to be grateful for my own weaknesses is because when I recognize my inability, I can focus on God's ability.
Jesus Calling's devotion the other day was right on target for where I've been the past few months:
"I have taken you along a path that has highlighted your need for Me; placing you in situations where your strengths were irrelevant and your weaknesses were glaringly evident."And everyone said, "AMEN." We've probably all experienced this at some point in our lives. Well that point for me, more than any other time in my life so far, is right now.
The thing is, the path that highlights our need for God is not always pleasant for our flesh. It can crush our confidence and make us feel powerless. It can cause us pain and make us uncomfortable. But it's in this place where we are reminded of the value of Christ in our lives, and our hunger and desperation for Him is renewed. When we realize our great weakness, we become dependent on God's amazing grace. And when we are dependent on God's grace instead of our own strength and resources, that is when God is able to work his power within us.
Even Paul experienced this in his life and ministry. In 2 Corinthians, chapter 12, he writes this:
So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this that it should leave me.
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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.Paul was a powerful missionary who performed signs and wonders, yet even he suffered weaknesses. Not only did he admit that he experienced weakness, but he boasted of the things that showed those weaknesses. The thorn that God gave Paul was to keep him from becoming conceited. God revealed Paul's weakness to keep him humble. Paul realized that his weaknesses, and not the great revelations that he received from God, would be the platform for demonstrating the Lord's power and grace.
Because of this, he learned to be content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecution, and calamities. By God's grace, we can too.
We can be content with weaknesses because God uses people who are weak in the eyes of the world.
When confronted with weakness, whether it be something inside ourselves or an outside circumstance that makes us seem weak, most of us question our value to God and to his purposes. We wonder how God can truly use us for his glory despite our frailty or in the midst of the hardships we are facing. Thank God that he doesn't disqualify us because of weakness. Throughout history, God has used weak, broken people just like us to accomplish his purposes. When he uses people who the world sees as weak to do great things, He gets the glory for it. When God uses us, even though we are weak and powerless, it is clear to us and to others that is is God who should be praised, and not ourselves. When we recognize that we are insufficient and that God is not, it causes us to proclaim what the writer of Psalm 115 proclaimed:
"Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!"
1 Corinthians 1:27 says, "But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong..."
When I read those words, "God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong," I'm reminded of how much we can learn from the Haitian people.
The world would consider most Haitians to be weak. The latest research has shown that Haiti is currently the poorest country in the world. Many of them are experiencing intense starvation, disease, and a lack of education. And while their physical states may indeed portray weakness, their spiritual states show great strength.
A verse that always comes to mind when I consider the Haitian people is James 2:5.
"Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?"Because of their physical poverty, they are chosen to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom. Not heirs of a rich great uncle who passes down money & material things, but heirs of the kingdom. Heirs of a real king. And their inheritance is something invaluable. Their inheritance is something lasting. It is of more importance and more worth than anything we can achieve in this world.
They depend on God as their sustainer and provider, and they are storing up treasure in heaven as they love and trust Him above all things.
He uses the weak in the world to shame the strong. All I know is I'm okay with not being the strong one in that situation. I don't want to be strong if it means sacrificing my inheritance in Jesus. I don't want to be strong if it means God can't use me because my pride and selfish desires get in the way. I don't want to be so afraid to show my weakness, that I miss every opportunity for God to show his strength through me.
Maybe we should stop praying this: "Lord, bless me. Lord, make me stronger."
Join me, & start praying this: "Lord, break me. Lord, make me weak and be strong in me."
