The Joy of Being Weak

Nobody wants to be labeled weak, especially perhaps, when people around us know about our profession of faith in Christ Jesus.

Weakness, in whatever aspect that may be, is usually viewed as a misrepresentation of the faith we have in Christ Jesus. Our shortcomings in the way we handle relationships, money, time and resources oftentimes give us a burdensome weight to carry as we continually think that these moments of lacking better judgment and better control of ourselves only prove our being a people who don't really fully trust and obey God.

I am comforted greatly, though, with the passage of Scripture that God has led me to today. I was quite blown away by the great sovereignty of our Lord as he masterfully coincided the message of two different devotionals I read alongside my Bible. It was a message that is LOUD and CLEAR.

The LORD wants us to find the JOY in our being faulty, imperfect, weak!

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: 

for when I am weak, then am I strong.

(2 Corinthians 12:9-10, KJV)

We all have moments of frailties. We all have seasons when the storm is the only thing we see. We all have those times in our lives when we just can't stand tall and proud because we've become bitter and angry, blew up in a fit, mismanaged our finances, said the wrong words to our spouse, failed to read our Bible and pray, allowed stress to take over our day... again. 

When these moments envelope us, our faith gets clouded with doubts of how genuine our walk is with the Lord. But then, when we allow the Word of God to speak louder than the howling winds of our insufficiencies, we will soon realize that God doesn't require us to be super humans! 

He doesn't give us a failing grade if we can't immediately get up and dust ourselves off every time we fall. He doesn't want us to become apathetic nor expect us to all of a sudden assume the role of a super man or woman in every adversity in life. 

God wants to WORK IN and THROUGH us, and the only way that that becomes possible is when we acknowledge how lacking and how weak we are in certain areas in our lives. It's just like the old cliche, "You can't fill a cup that's already full."

When we come to a point in our lives when we KNOW first hand that we lack the capacity to deal with the things at hand, let us not become proud and appear as if we can handle the situation every time. 

Oftentimes, a humble heart is the key to harnessing the POWER of the Almighty God that He has given us through His Spirit. The first step is to ACKNOWLEDGE that we are incapable of handling the situation by ourselves... that oftentimes, we NEED the help of the One who is Greater and Stronger than us.

Have you failed to show love to your spouse... again? Have you burst in anger and failed to control yourself... again? Have you failed to manage your finances well for this month... again? Have you failed to sacrifice a portion of your time to spend reading Scriptures and to pray... again? Have you panicked, become anxious and worried and stressed out about something... again?

Listen, the secret formula is to learn to be JOYFUL in being weak! Let's imitate the apostle Paul who realized that we CAN ALWAYS TAKE PLEASURE in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distress because the truth is by then, God's sufficient GRACE becomes manifest in us.

Let us then come boldly before His throne and acknowledge our sinfulness, our depravity, our insufficiency, our lack of better judgment... and let us ask the LORD to bless and infuse us with HIS STRENGTH to forgive, HIS POWER to resist sin, HIS ABILITY to provide, HIS CAPACITY to persevere, HIS CAPABILITY to LOVE, and HIS GRACE to STAND STILL and STRONG.

The joy of being weak lies within the very fact that God's GRACE is sufficient where our weaknesses lie... for when we are weak, then HE is strong!