It seems like almost everyone is anxious, overwhelmed, or discouraged these days. It may come from any number of reasons, but for one, I think the internet has put a magnifying glass on our weakness by putting a spotlight on other’s strengths and creating so many negative and misplaced comparisons. Comparison is the thief of joy, or the companion of feeling less than, somehow not good enough. Not accomplished enough in your career, not a good enough mom, not disciplined enough to eat healthy or work out every day, not stylish enough, not pretty enough, not fun enough to have friends, just not enough. The world generally has two answers to feeling inadequate, 1) do something, achieve, accomplish and feel better, or 2) just believe you are enough. Essentially, don’t be weak or inadequate.

I wish there was a way to not be weak, a solution for the persistent problem that we are continually and painfully made aware of.  But when we look to God for an answer, we see that God does not look at our weakness as a problem that needs to be solved. He uses our weakness so that we rely on Him. He uses it to force us to relinquish the pride that we cling to so fiercely. He uses it much longer than we would like in order to grow our patience and endurance. Paul pleads for a weakness to be taken a way and this is God’s response:

“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 12:9-10

I’ve been thinking about this verse a lot the last few days since Steve’s sermon on Sunday, that I tried to catch pieces of even though I was struggling physically. God, I’m pretty sure I could get more out of sermons if I wasn’t fighting to stay conscious. My grace is sufficient. God, I wish I didn’t have to collapse on the kitchen floor so many times a day. My grace is sufficient. God I’m so sure I could be more effective for ministry both to my family and to others if I wasn’t chronically ill. My grace is sufficient for you. God, I know you can heal, that you can do more than we ask or imagine, I know you can take this away. My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness. 

We most often want God to be glorified by giving us strength to compensate for our weaknesses, instead of leaving us in them. Maybe it’s because we’re too focused on achieving, but maybe it’s just because we’re too focused on ourselves, and how we think our lives should look. It is our sinful pride that leads us to think that we have a better idea of what our part in God’s kingdom should look like than God’s idea. He will accomplish His purposes according to His perfect wisdom, and generally chooses to use willing and weak people rather than the strong, important ones. With both Sarah and Rebekah, years of barrenness must have felt like a crippling weakness and an impossible barrier to God’s plan to make them into a great nation. Abraham and Sarah even gave up, turning to Hagar instead of trusting God’s plan and timing. But God knew what he was doing, and His timing was perfect with Isaac, as it was with Esau and Jacob. We may have to wait many long years for God to work in, through, or around our weakness, but He can and will work. It won’t often be in the way that we expect or hope for, but it will be good.

I ran across an Elizabeth Elliot quote recently that spoke to me:

He makes us wait. He keeps us on purpose in the dark. He makes us walk when we want to run, sit when we want to walk, for He has things to do in our souls that we are not interested in. “Secure in the Everlasting Arms”

I would encourage you to use the emphasis on prayer these next couple of days to come to God in the midst of your weakness, confess the pride that wants to remove that weakness, and trust and rest in who God is and what He will do.  Let Him know your cares, then set them aside and pray for others. Pray for renewal. Pray for His Spirit to change us, to lift our weary, inadequate selves and look to Him. Praise Him that His grace is sufficient. Ask to find joy in Him. And come home eager to walk in weakness by God’s grace and for His glory.