When I Am Weak, Then I Am Strong

This past week I had the privilege of meeting a new group of folks in Gig Harbor, Washington, where I live. It was a group of pastors and leaders in the faith community here, and I must say, it was a delightful time of sharing humor, deep feelings (I was surprised at this!), and camaraderie in the work of pastoral care ministry in our town.

One of the topics that came up, spurred by a sentence-starter presented by the leader of the meeting this week, was the issue of personal weakness, and how we as leaders face weakness in ourselves and others as we serve. Since it was my first time in attendance, I was interested to see how this group of six men and three women would interact around this matter.

I was surprised and impacted at the depth of transparency and trust that was demonstrated by the group. No quick, superficial answers were given; rather, there was honest communication as we spoke about facing our own places of weakness in the course of professional and personal living.

As the conversation went on, I found myself reflecting on the fact that only weak people have testimonies of God's power and deliverance. God values weakness in His people, for those who know they are weak turn to Him for strength and help in their situations. Strong people don't need to pray, don't need faith, don't need help - strong people strive to prove themselves to themselves, to one another, and to God. Unfortunately, this "strength" is often nothing more than thinly disguised pride, and that stance receives no help from God at all.

Weakness (Jesus calls it 'poverty of spirit' in Matthew 5) is precious to God, because when we are weak, we turn to Him as the resource, the One who has the solution for our situation. And here's where it gets interesting: God loves to put us in situations where our weakness is brought to the surface, so that we have the opportunity to trust, so that He can show Himself strong on our behalf.

I saw a statement on another blog I read that says this: "If your vision doesn't scare you, it's not big enough!" I think that's true, because God is not looking for what we can do for Him; He's looking for people who will surrender in weakness so that He can do what He wants to do in partnership with them.

What does God want to do in and through you today, this week, this year? Are you afraid you can't pull it off? If your answer is 'yes,' that's good! Now you are postured to receive a miracle!

2 Chronicles 16:9 says this: "The eyes of God look to and fro through the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal to Him." In other words, He's looking for those who know they are weak, but who trust Him anyway. Then He gets involved, and we end up with victory and a powerful testimony.

My prayer for myself and for you this week is this: May the Holy Spirit lead us into scary things, that we might better know how much we need Him, and that we might better know how eager He is to show up for us.

Gary Wiens