Orange Moon Cafe "Strong In the Lord" Part 2 - Strength in Weakness

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

"Strong In the Lord"

Part 2 - Strength In Weakness

     

     "He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness… When I am weak, then am I strong" (II Corinthians 12:9; 10).

      Sometimes when we feel at our weakest, we may actually be at our strongest.  The sense of human frailty, if it awakens us to our need for Divine strength, serves as the motivation to seek God's transcendent enabling.  "We also are weak in Him" declared the same Apostle Paul who calls us to "be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might" (II Corinthians 13:4; Ephesians 6:10).  Which is it?  Weak in Him?  Or strong in the Lord?  The answer is both.  We are forever the dependent vessel in our relationship with the Lord.  We serve as the branch in need of the life of the Vine (John 15:1).  Thus, we will often feel the reality of our human inability, while also affirming the present and enabling truth of "the power that worketh in us" (Ephesians 3:20).

   I sometimes sense this duality of the Divine and the human when traveling to services.  Over the course of 300 meetings a year, I occasionally don't feel up to par. Thankfully this doesn't happen often, but I have learned (and am learning) that such occasions offer a wonderful opportunity to experience that which I seek to communicate regarding the Lord Jesus Christ.  Feelings of tiredness, a hoarse voice, or lethargy in whatever form call me to rejoice that the Lord does not commission us to live or minister by our own devices.  By definition, strength "made perfect in weakness" requires the awareness of our need for the Lord's presence and working.  Some of our best services (at least in my view) have taken place when I was more aware than usual of the Lord Jesus' pronouncement to His disciples, "Without Me, ye can do nothing" (John 15:5).

   Whatever the weakness, be it physical, mental, emotional, motivational, or situational, our Heavenly Father loves to reveal His sufficient grace in the setting of our human need.  His Son is glorified thereby, our hearts are amazed by His faithful working, and others are blessed by glories that can only have been revealed by the power of God.  Long ago, King David prayed for awareness of "how frail I am" in order to be made ready for the faith of affirming "by Thee I have run through a troop.  By my God I have leaped over a wall" (Psalm 39:4; II Samuel 22:30).  This is the Christian life, or rather, this is the overcoming life of Christ as best revealed not in seeming strength, but in seeking weakness…

"In the day when I cried, Thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul."

(Psalm 138:3)

Weekly Memory Verse    

   For by Thee I have run through a troop.  By my God I have leaped over a wall."

(II Samuel 22:30)

  

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