God’s Strength in Weakness
What does it mean to be strong when I am weak? Can I say I want fellowship with Jesus in His suffering? But Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24).
I came across an exercise to write 50 things you have accomplished in life. A reason for doing this is to have something to think about and look back on when you face a setback. I’ve struggled to get 22, and many of those include things like “kayaked part of a river.” When I think back on things I’ve accomplished in life, most of what I see is failure. I see relationships I destroyed, people I hurt, mistakes I made, and all the ways and times I utterly poisoned my body. All I can see is work I left unfinished.
But Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). He finished the work, because I never could.
It’s a blessing, really, to have a previous life ravaged by sin. It’s a blessing to suffer and hurt as a consequence of choices I made and even from new, random circumstances and events. The apostle Paul, moved by the Holy Spirit, wrote many things that will take the remainder of my lifetime and more for me to digest, but there are two verses in particular that I resisted letting sink in or couldn’t understand right away.
One is Philippians 3:10 - “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings” (NKJV, emphasis added). Did I really want to know the fellowship of Jesus’ sufferings? Jesus was abused, beaten, ridiculed, denied by those He loved, mocked, taking on the just wrath for the sin of the world. Could I say I want fellowship with Jesus in His suffering? But Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24, emphasis added). I have to be willing to let my old self, my sins, be put on the cross.
This brings me to the next Scripture, one that honestly has been difficult for me to wrap my mind around until recently, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 - “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (emphasis added). It is a regular occurrence for me to have a day or two each month of intense, agonizing pain that leaves me lying in a heap on the floor, writhing and crying for mercy. What has been coming into my mind recently are "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness" and “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” With each time this occurs, I understand it more and more.
Scripture to Contemplate
Philippians 3:8-11 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Romans 5:3-5 …we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
James 5:7-12 Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
Romans 8:28-29 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Applying the Scripture
I cannot work on my own; I cannot have strength on my own; I cannot even make good choices or do good things on my own. The truth is, I am weak. But my weakness, my need for God, displays His power and His strength and His goodness. And when I am with Jesus, in the fellowship of His suffering, I’m given the opportunity to see my weakness and know that God is working in it to help me know Him more. As Paul says, “we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3-4).
The hope we have in Christ is that we are being made into His image (Romans 8:29). May we seek God in all we do and in all that befalls us, for it is to our good and His glory.
Focus Verse
2 Corinthians 12:9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Strength in Weakness
My God
You are my hope, my strength
for You remove my wicked ways
from my heart, and the burdened shame
You nailed to a cross
You cast far away
In this well of Your mercy
I fall deeper still
in trials, in sufferings
in failure and sorrow
You soften my heart,
help me let go of tomorrow.
For today Your mercies are new
You wash me in love as fresh dew
with Your word You give hope
to my fleeting thoughts
and comfort my pain, my hurt, my loss.
For the splendor of knowing You
and the hope I hold near
of being made more like You,
Jesus, of knowing You’re here
It outweighs the troubles
that may befall me today
Lord, I pray in my weakness
You give rise to Your strength
I pray for endurance
for peace in the storm
and for faith
For I know Your promises are sure
You will never forsake me
and You shape me
to the image of Jesus
all the more.
References:
Radmacher, Earl D., et al. The Nelson Study Bible: New King James Version. T. Nelson Publishers, 1997.
The Walk of a Poet -
Book of Prayers
Get a Free PDF Download of my Prayer Booklet as a bonus download when you join “The C”!
