Strength for The Weak

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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Most of my notions of weakness and strength come from what I’ve observed in the world. It seems that the big strong guy wins and the little weak guy loses. A scramble for success and power leaves no room for weakness. So most of us shun and avoid it in every form. In avoiding weakness, we can grow restless, willful, overly driven, stressed, impatient, isolated, unrelatable, harsh, selfish or unempathetic. A fun way to live, right?

Yet God offers us an entirely different way. In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Paul shares from his own struggle that God’s way is not the world’s. God chooses the foolish to shame the wise, taking what is nothing and making it grand 1 Corinthians 1:27-28

Just think of the disciples Jesus chose. A bunch of normal people — fishermen, farmers and a tax-collector — were his selected team to spread the kingdom of God to the world.

Ultimately, God uses the human weakness of His own Son, Jesus Christ, to show off His strength. At the Cross, Jesus willingly becomes worse than weak — a curse (Gal. 3:13) — and in so doing displays God’s strength in the form of love, sacrifice, redemption, resurrection and adoption. At the Cross, God reverses the curse of the Fall, including the world’s way of thinking. Strength, once associated with power, becomes strength bound to surrender and alignment with God’s ways. Weakness, associated with vulnerability and loss, becomes weakness associated with infinite gain.

His presence with you changes everything. So don’t be afraid to be weak today. Take it as an opportunity to rejoice that God uses weakness and humility to revolutionize the world.

Respond

By exercising your awareness of God’s presence with you and by meditating on His Word, you will discover an inner strength that will not only carry you through the trials of life but will bring with it a joy that will grow in eternity.

Take a minute to read Hebrews 4:14-16.

How does Jesus’ sympathizing with your temptations and weakness make you think about your own weakness?

When reading the Bible, look for examples of how God chooses the way of weakness to display His strength.

If you have extra time, look at Jesus’ blessings in Matthew 5:1-12. Do you see yourself in the progression of these verses?