Advantage of being weak…

God is revealing the answer to another puzzle that I’ve often thought about. It is in this passage:

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:8–10)

I get the last line, that He gives His strength to those who are weak and unable. The part that I’ve wondered about is being able to “boast all the more gladly” and be “content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities.” Like most people, those things are difficult to be content with, never mind gladly boast about them. However, this line redirects my thinking:

Who would not glory in being so weak and helpless that the Lord Jesus Christ should find no hindrance to the perfect working of His mighty power through us and in us?

With that, it is easy to see the possibility of glorying or boasting about weakness — because it means getting out of the Lord’s way, not being an obstacle to what He wants to do, even that He might use me to do it, but just getting out of His way is a big accomplishment. It means that I realize His power and wisdom are supreme and that my I-wants and efforts only hinder Him from doing the very best that can be done.

Today’s reading also says that because the work is Christ’s, the responsibility is His also. I don’t have to be concerned about the results; He can manage it all. My part is being contented like a child and guided in either leaving Him to do it, or willing to run errands at His requests.

I know a man who directs a ministry to the homeless. The work done brings glory to God and much opposition from non-Christians including government officials who are anxious to ‘fix’ the problem but do not want it done by faith-based ministries. While this makes no sense to me, the focus of this director is like the puzzle of being content with weakness, insults, and hardships. He is blasted continually yet smiles at his helplessness and puts the current calamity in the hands of the Lord. By this, God is free to work and miracles happen.

This solves another issue. Sometimes, when I am able to accept weakness and enjoy the rest in Christ that follows, I feel guilty that I am not burdened about anything. Being content sometimes seems that I’m not really serving God.

However, the emotions and actions that go with boasting in weakness are not about what I’m feeling but about the peace and contentment God gives to those who are trusting Him and not trying to ‘help’ Him or solve any issues apart from Him. It is not about taking it easy or about doing what He asks me to do. Obeying God can require complex planning and physical effort but not a sense of power, or confidence in myself, or any reactions to people or events around me. In that man who helps the homeless, I see the wonder of what God does in the life of someone who dares carry the workload Christ asks of him without carrying any mental burden. Nonchalant? Yes! Trusting Jesus? Entirely! Effective? Amazingly so!

PRAY: Jesus, this is the abundant life — working with great enthusiasm yet not being in charge or accountable for the power to do it or the results. All of that belongs to You. My job is simple: just trust You and do what You say.

All creation bows before Him

Sometimes the devotional writer makes statements that bypass what the Bible says. Today, he writes that worship “distinguishes man from all other forms of life on earth.” The psalmist and Isaiah would not say that. Besides telling us that “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1), other verses say:

“Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.” (Psalm 96:11–13, also see Psalm 98:8)

“For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” (Isaiah 55:12, also Isaiah 44:23)

We live in a condo complex that has tall aspens, those trees whose leaves seem to dance in the wind. When I watch them, Isaiah’s words come to mind and as the trees worship God with uplifted ‘hands’ I often do the same.

That said, the Scripture for today gives the reason for worship, not explicitly but it is in this passage:

“When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.’ Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, ‘Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.’” (Genesis 17:1–8)

Abram was old and not able to do what he could do as a young man. Perhaps he was not as hung up on accomplishments as I have been, but he had to reach this place of helplessness before God declared again this covenant and the promise of offspring and fruitfulness. The reason for worship in this passage and in the entire Bible is that God does it. In our own strength, humanity can do nothing. The Bible says we do not seek God (Romans 3:10ff) or worship Him. We go our own way (Isaiah 53:6) and because of that, God stepped into our world to redeem us from our sin. He took the death we deserve and gave us the life we could never achieve without Him.

Because of that, I can worship Him . . . but the trees had it figured out long before I did!

^^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, today is a new day. I slept almost all of yesterday, but in sleep You blessed me with new understanding and with further healing. You are able to use all that happens for good for those who love You, and You even give us that ability to love.

“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” (1 John 4:10–12)