MOVING FORWARD â—½ ENCOURAGEMENT
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 persecution, and in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. –
2 Corinthians 12 9-10
Our culture definitely doesn't celebrate weakness. Pretty much every action movie depicts a rebel good guy with a Lone Ranger mentality who single-handedly manages, against all odds, to defeat all of the opposing evil…and all while remaining cool!
We love to applaud these hero types, but, in real life, we seldom feel like one of them. Life is tough, and we're constantly being beaten by so many things that can cause us to wonder if we're ever succeeding at anything. At least, I often wonder it about myself.
I will be the first to admit that Paul's statement about boasting in his weaknesses isn't easy for me to fully comprehend. So much of my identity has come from the rare times that I felt "good enough" in a situation. I don't like to let people down, and have felt so much pressure to be responsible and take care of things. Sadly, though, I fail. A lot. I'm just not that strong. I got to find out just how weak I can be last month, when I participated in a three-week, church wide fast. It was hard, and it wasn't pretty. I struggled.
But the fast also brought me to the secret place in such a beautiful way, because it reminded me that I can often only really draw nearer to God when I come to the end of my strength. I began to see that my weak state was not a surprise to God, and that it was okay! He loves to remind me that he adores me; that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. He has no problem with making up for what I am unable to do. He respects and honors me. He is a servant king who loves me more fiercely than I can comprehend. And his ability to touch my fish and loaves to create miracles in my life knows no bounds. All he wants is for me to be on this journey with him, where I can be the human that I am and he can be the amazing God that he is. The God who is the true hero. That news is better than anything I can wrap my head around, and I want to better understand it every day.
So, yes, sometimes I am weak. I haven't liked it, but I'm learning to embrace it so that God can show up strong for me.