The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe
"When I Am Weak"
"When I am weak, then am I strong" (II Corinthians 12:10).
In natural matters, when we are weak, we are weak. When we are strong, we are strong. Spiritually, however, the matter differs. Since we live by the mandate, "Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might," our recognition of need best equips us to avail ourselves of the enabling whereby we walk with God and live for Him by living from Him (Ephesians 6:10).
Weakness, rightly viewed, helps us to see our humanity as the temple created for God's vital presence. "Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how frail I am" (Psalm 39:4). The Apostle Paul discovered this reality to the degree he confessed, "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" (II Corinthians 12:10). Paul did not "feel" pleasure in these difficulties that challenged him no less than they do every human soul and body. He rather determined to "take pleasure" by realizing and affirming that anything that bears witness to God's supply and our need serves as friend rather than foe. This involved faith for the Apostle, as it will for us when we choose to view our challenges as opportunities to live by a power far beyond ourselves, but which nevertheless dwells within us through the Spirit of Christ. "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (II Corinthians 12:9).
It feels good to feel strong. Sometimes God's enabling results in such a sensibility as we live by His strength. Quite often, however, the sense of weakness must be present in order to remind and motivate us to trust our Lord for His promised power. Such times will challenge us at the outset as the discomfort of weakness, in whatever form, causes us to feel deficient and jeopardized. If, however, we have learned that God's strength "is made perfect in weakness," we see the opportunity that lies at hand, and in heart. "Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress" (Psalm 4:1).
Never would we have come to Christ had not we discovered our inability to change our own hearts and lives. Never will we walk with Christ if we do not discover that God administers and allows challenges that expose our frailty in order to enlighten "the power that worketh in us" (Ephesians 3:20). "Christ, the power of God" is how Paul termed the gift he also declared to be "exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think" (I Corinthians 1:24). Weak? Absolutely. "Without Me, ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). Strong? In Him? Absolutely, even more…
"For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God."
(II Corinthians 13:4)
Weekly Memory Verse
Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might.
(Ephesians 6:10)
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