God uses weak people: Part 2

If you were with me yesterday morning,I said that it is possible to be strong even when you’re weak,and that’s a verse from the Bible in 2 Cor 12:9 where God says through Paul : “My power shows up best in weak people” . Normally,no-one likes to think of themselves as a weak kind of person ..  It goes against the grain doesn’t it ..But the message of Paul and others is this ..when I am weak,I am strong. To so many people,this is nonsense. Power and strength are worshipped by most people,and weakness is despised above all things.

From an early age we are taught to conceal our vulnerability,lest we get hurt,So we hide our weaknesses,lest we be taken advantage of .. so instead we play the game of covering up our inadequacies. After all,we’re told we should help ourselves .. that we can do anything we want to,and all the answers we’re sure to find in ourselves. But the amazing truth is we can discover God’s amazing grace is all we need,because His power is made perfect in our weakness .. and not always in ways we would first expect.

The story is told about how one day a small boy was trying to lift a stone much too heavy for him.  His father walked by and seeing his struggles said “Are you using all your strength?”  The boy said that indeed he was.  But the father replied “No son,you aren’t,for you haven’t asked me.” There’s the key – asking God for His help in our times of weakness.  How much of our weakness do we keep locked up inside us,because we think that there is no help for us,or because we think that other things are more important?

The great missionary Hudson Taylor once said,”All God’s giants were weak people.”  What is so good about weakness from God’s perspective? Because weakness is the place where God’s might is seen in all its strength.

Yesterday I mentioned the Biblical character Gideon. In Judges 6 we meet Gideon hiding from the Midianites in a winepress. He was scared and frightened,and the  angel of the Lord approaches Gideon and in one of the most ironic verses in all of scripture calls out,”The Lord is with you,mighty warrior.” Yeah right. Gideon. Mighty. From the outset,the picture we have of Gideon is of a weak-willed,faithless,timid man. In his own words in Judges 6:15 Gideon says,”But how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest one in Manasseh,and everyone else in my family is more important than I am”. But God was determined and  asks Gideon to deliver his people from the Midianite oppression and he  takes an army of 32,000 to do the job. But God,in order to demonstrate his might,must begin from a position of weakness .. and God whittles away this army to 10,000 then to 300. And from this position of weakness,God,in his might,delivers his people. It’s quite an amazing story of weakness turned into strength.

When Jesus was crucified,many thought He was a lost cause – a champion of the poor and oppressed snuffed out at age 33. But listen to 2 Corinthians 13:4:”Although he was weak when he was nailed to the cross,he now lives by the power of God. We are weak,just as Christ was .But you will see that we live by the power of God,just as Christ does”
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Jesus taught with words,but He taught even deeper lessons by His example. He stepped into the sandals of a desert-dwelling Jew,a manual labourer,a Roman subject with no rights to speak of. He is the Prince of the Universe,and He gave it all up. Not to lead a political revolution. Not to win people with beautiful words. Not even to teach us what was right (though He did).

He possessed all power,all authority in heaven and on earth,and He gave it up to die. For us. He never fought back. He willingly stepped into the arms of death for us. The ultimate act of submission. He completely relinquished His strength,and “He was crucified in weakness.”
That is how Jesus loves people. “…The Son of man did not come to be a slave master,but a slave who will give his life to rescue many people”. “Jesus experienced crucifixion because He was obedient to His Father’s will. He appeared to be very weak to onlookers. However,his “weakness” was in reality evidence of great strength. The Father rewarded the Son by sustaining Him with supernatural power;” supernatural power that expressed itself in raising Christ from the dead.

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WEAK PEOPLE NEED EACH OTHER. Leonardo da Vinci once said “An arch consists of 2 weaknesses,which leaning against one another make a strength”. We do need each other for  support and help. But let God give you His strength today to face whatever comes into your life.

That was why Paul was able to write .. “I cheerfully made up my mind to be proud of my weaknesses because they mean a deeper experience with Christ.” The Living Bible says it like this,”I am glad to be a living demonstration of Christ’s power instead of showing off my own powers and abilities.” So rather than posturing yourself as a self confident and invincible person,see yourself as a trophy of God’s grace. It’s the secret of power.