Weakness part 3
I think there's this idea out there that says, "God loves you in spite of your weaknesses." As if to say... you're pretty terrible, but God loves you anyway. And I guess I can see how that could be a comfort to some. But only if you think you're terrible. Because the truth is you're fearfully and wonderfully made. God doesn't love you IN SPITE of your weaknesses, He loves you BECAUSE of your weaknesses! If you could do everything (or anything) yourself, then there wouldn't be any room (or any need) for God to do anything. He wouldn't be able to be a part of your life. And here's the deal: God doesn't WANT to be a part of your life. He wants to BE your life... because He IS life! The relationship between heavenly Father and beloved Son in whom He is well pleased is the definition of eternal life. It's the love relationship that brought us out of death and into life! Now look at this: Moses was having a big problem with the task God had set before him. He was coming up with excuse after excuse as to why he shouldn't speak to or for the people of Israel. He even went so far as to point out his speech impediment. This was God's response, "And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say" (Exodus 4:11-12). God didn't pick Moses IN SPITE of his stutter... He picked him BECAUSE of his stutter! See, Moses had no confidence in himself. He HAD to lean on the Lord. And that's what God wanted. God was going to talk to Pharoah, He was just going to use Moses' mouth to do it. God doesn't want us to work FOR Him... He wants to work WITH us... IN us... THROUGH us... and if we think we can do it all by ourselves, then we leave God out of it. (Which isn't to say that we can actually leave Him out of anything... He's everywhere all the time... He's in all things and sustains all things... but, like Adam and Eve in the garden we CAN, in a sense, hide from his presence.) Jesus told Paul that His strength is made perfect in weakness. When we can't... He does. And that, to me, is freeing. Because the more I try to do things the more I find that I can't do anything. In fact, when I bang my head against the wall trying to make something happen... all I ever get is a headache. But when I stop trying to be strong... when I stop trying to do everything (anything) myself... that's when God has room to operate. You know the old saying, "God isn't interested in you ability, He's interested in your AVAILABLITY." All throughout the Bible God picked unlikey suspects to carry out His will. Murderers, adulterers, cowards... real people, in other words. He didn't wait until someone was "perfect" and then send them out. In fact, when He found someone like that (Enoch) He didn't send him out at all. He brought Enoch away with Himself. What I'm saying is: Our weakness doesn't define us, and it doesn't scare God. It isn't something for us to overcome, or try to ignor, or hide. It's the very place that God can do the most with us. HIS strength is made perfect in our weakness. When we can't... He will.