Weakness is a blessing in disguise . . .

What do most parents say when their children are feeling inadequate? I know what I used to say: “You can do it. You are smart, capable . . . .” These are the ways we try to build self-worth, self-esteem. I defended them when they felt threatened and tried to build their pride. While my three grew up with a strong sense of justice, they also are independent (like their mother) which makes trusting God a bigger challenge.

Today’s devotional spells out that our culture is enmeshed in the promotion of self-worth and self-promotion. People demand their ‘rights’ and wind up doing what is right in their own eyes. Because our sin nature is proud and selfish, this does not need to be taught or caught — it just is.

I’ve noticed that some ‘Christian’ churches promote the idea that people should feel good about themselves. Humanity is honored rather than God, and very little if anything is said about the value of a broken and contrite heart, or about death to self and submission to God and to human authorities. Many seem to forget that Jesus said:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:3–6)

Jesus was speaking in the context of a culture who valued the Word of God, of a people who were familiar with the Old Testament verses that spoke of the value of deep contrition and humility. They knew the words of their beloved King David as he confessed his sin:

“Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” (Psalm 51:4)

They also knew these words and the truth of them:

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)

“All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” (Isaiah 66:2)

 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.” (Zechariah 12:10)

Those who trusted the Lord and knew the value of being broken before Him, also knew what to do when they were overwhelmed by sin and that deep sense of being broken, even destroyed by their sin:

“When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” (Psalm 34:17–19)

Like David, those who are humble and contrite in spirit will ‘take sides with God against himself, justifying God in their own condemnation’ and when we do that, we are justified by God and freed from all condemnation.

^^^^^^^

Jesus, the principles of living in Your kingdom are entirely opposite of the principles of this world. Here, humanity is convinced that the only way to be built up is by exalting oneself, but in the kingdom, we are given worth by being without it and by relying on You as our worth. You “became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” (1 Corinthians 1:30) No matter how terrible I feel about myself or how broken-hearted I am over my sinfulness, nothing can destroy what I have in You.

Our need – God’s supply

Lamentations 1:1–2:22, Romans 15:8–21, Proverbs 30:1–33

In 586 B.C. after God’s people were taken into captivity, Jeremiah expressed his deep sorrow over their fall into sin and the result of that fall. He speaks of their loneliness and how the city that was once great became like a widow, even like a slave. Jerusalem weeps bitterly with no one to comfort her; her friends have become her enemies. (Lamentations 1:1–2)

Further, the enemy has taken her precious things by entered her sanctuary where God had forbidden them to enter. Her people searched for bread (during the two year siege) and traded their treasures for food, crying out to God that they are despised. (Lamentations 1:10–11)

They also found themselves bound as by a yoke, with failing strength as they were given “into the hands of those whom I cannot withstand” and rejected by the Lord and crushed, “trodden as in a winepress.” (Lamentations 1:14–15)

Sometimes we must break before we can be rebuilt. Sometimes we must fall before we can rise to the greatness God has called us to. Certainly these people were broken. They cried out to God saying, “The Lord is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word; but hear, all you peoples, and see my suffering; my young women and my young men have gone into captivity. I called to my lovers, but they deceived me; my priests and elders perished in the city, while they sought food to revive their strength. Look, O Lord, for I am in distress; my stomach churns; my heart is wrung within me, because I have been very rebellious. In the street the sword bereaves; in the house it is like death. They heard my groaning, yet there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that you have done it. You have brought the day you announced; now let them be as I am.” (Lamentations 1:18–21)

Jeremiah saw the anger of the Lord as He “cast down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel” and he told the people, “Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street.” (Lamentations 2:19)

This is a sad and brutal time. Babies and children become food for their starving parents during the siege, a story of human depravity that demonstrates how much humanity needs God, how much we need a Savior.

Solomon did not write all of the Proverbs. Agur also expresses the root of human depravity: “I am weary, O God; I am weary, O God, and worn out. Surely I am too stupid to be a man. I have not the understanding of a man. I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.” (Proverbs 30:1–3)

He goes on to describe how we sinners resist God. Even though “every word of God proves true” and “He is a shield to those who take refuge in him” we “add to His words” and “are clean in (our) own eyes but are not washed of (our) filth.” (Proverbs 30:5–6, 12) 

Without the grace and mercy of God, we are like Jerusalem. Without the redemption that is found in Jesus Christ, we would also be given over to our enemies and perish in our sin.

This is the dark side of spiritual reality. The bright side is Jesus Christ. In Him we have forgiveness and new life. In Him we can start over, serving God with His power instead of our own. God has accomplished this for us; our part is to believe Him.

When we do, the “God of hope fills (us) with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit (we) may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13) What a far cry from the Lamentations of Jeremiah. Paul could declare our hope, even that, “In Christ Jesus, I have reason to be proud of my work for God.”

The Apostle denied pride and did not depend on or boast of himself, refusing “to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed.” His rejoicing was in “the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God.” (Romans 15:17–19)

There are days when I feel like Jerusalem. I’ve failed to bow to God and He chastens me. In that, I also know the humility of Agur. How foolish is sin, and how miserable I am apart from trusting the Lord in all things. Yet by grace, God gives me moments when I can relate to Paul’s hope and joy. In Christ Jesus, I can see the power of God in my life. May the former days decrease, even disappear, and those moments of blessing increasingly become hours and days that mark the work of the Holy Spirit in me.

Treasure in an earthen vessel

For many years I did not understand the Apostle Paul’s odd statement about weakness and power. He said that when he was weak, then he was strong. It was only after learning the difference between me, the earthen vessel in which Christ dwells, and Christ the treasure in the vessel, that I began to understand what Paul was talking about.

In my own strength, meaning whenever I do anything without relying on the Lord, I am helpless. It didn’t used to be like that. At first, it seemed I could do anything I wanted. But as time went by, God began allowing me to see the uselessness of my efforts alongside the greatness of my need to rely on Him.

This is hard to explain. Imagine reading by candlelight and not knowing it was difficult. Then someone gives you a LED lamp and suddenly you realize the difference. The candle is nothing alongside that lamp. However, the other element that is more difficult to describe is the sense of being weak that goes with this power of God and that both exist at the same time.

Paul said that the power of Christ was strong in him, but only when he was weak. It is one thing to admit not being able to do something, but this is a different kind of helplessness. It is about being unable to do anything on my own and feeling that helplessness, yet at the same time totally trusting the Lord and knowing that His power and ability is somehow giving me an energy and ability that is otherwise not there. This is a paradox.

The devotional reading for today is Paul’s attempt to explain with this feels like, not so much concerning helplessness, but concerning sinfulness. Being a spiritual person is made possible by Christ and the Holy Spirit. It is not in any of us to be spiritual without Him, yet the more we draw near to Him in trust and obedience, the clearer we see our sin and its pull on our lives.

Paul said, “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” (Romans 7:14–25)

Most of us have to read that several times to understand just the English, never mind the concept. And this passage is not about an unsaved person or a new Christian who thinks sin is not a problem. It is about a mature believer who knows the war. His mind is the mind of Christ and his heart is dedicated to serving God, but there is this constant thing going on, this sinful stuff that bubbles to the surface like a putrid, festering, polluted well. It is from that old nature that is dead (and stinks like it is dead) but refuses to rot away and disappear.

Apparently in some parts of the biblical world, the dead body of his victim was strapped on the back of a convicted murderer. The guilty party had to wear it until it rotted away, likely taking him with it. Horrible image, but this could have been what Paul was trying to convey.

For me, the image that is closer to how I see it is that of a person whose limbs are shattered and cannot move. The feet are incapable of walking; the arms cannot carry or lift anything. The desire is there, but the ability is not. However, by the grace of God and through the power of the Holy Spirit, this wretched being can love God and love people. In his weakness, God’s power is the only reason his life has any value and he knows it. There is no faking it, no hypocrisy. This person’s life is an open book, and strangely enough, to some that life appears wonderful, even beautiful, not because of itself, but because Jesus is there.

These are hard lessons, but I am learning that the mind of Christ works the best in a person who is totally broken. If anyone wants that, God will do the crushing, but be prepared; it will be like nothing ever experienced before.

Brokenness before wholeness

Few people want to be called a crackpot, or even a cracked pot, but that is something like a major aspect of spiritual growth.

I started my walk with Christ in great confidence. Now that God was on my side, I felt as if I could do anything. Besides, I was in love with Jesus Christ and most of us know the attitude that accompanies being in love. We are optimistic to a fault and failure never crosses our minds!

However, I had to learn a few things. One of them was that I cannot live this new life in my own strength and confidence. God had to break that pride and change my thinking.

And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. (Jeremiah 18:4)

Brokenness does not happen to all Christians. At least it seems like some of us are more stubborn than others. I feel as if I’m one of the stubborn ones. I know what God wants, but deeply resist it.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Psalm 51:17)

How does God “spoil” a vessel that He is forming? The process is painful, even embarrassing. For instance, He may throw difficult circumstances at me. Once I saw a potter stand several feet from the pot on her wheel. She picked up lumps from the floor and hurled them at the pot, reshaping it to suit her. God can do that too.

Sometimes failure does it. When I try in my own strength to do the will of God, He does not allow continued success. After a time, I begin to get the message, that I’m trusting myself and not Him. This is also humbling.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:5–6)

Another way God brings brokenness is through great disappointment. He knows how to make me understand that I cannot have my own way or control my own destiny. I’m His child, not His spoiled brat. Even when I want what He wants, I cannot by my own will make it happen. In helplessness and sorrow, I must acknowledge that He is Lord and I am not. In true brokenness, this is not mere words, but a deep change in the way I think.

As a cracked pot, I’m certain that God is not finished with me. However, as long as I am spinning on His wheel and being reworked by His hand, I am increasing in confidence, not in myself but in the fact that He is the Master Potter, and He knows what He is doing.