True Strength

Happy are the people whose strength is in you. —Psalm 84:5

Failure. It’s a word that makes me quiver to my core. I hate failing. I hate coming up short, lagging behind, and being considered mediocre.

I want to lead by example, set the pace, and maintain a perfect track record. I want others to look up to me and say, “Wow. What a godly woman!” But this is pride and idolatry at its finest, no? God cannot abide our worship of any other gods, even if they come in the form of fellow believers. So, He gives us cracks and crevices that leak out need and disorder of every kind.

Think about the biblical accounts of Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Ruth, Hannah, David, Jonah, Mary, Timothy, Paul, and every other individual recorded in the Bible who God used mightily. Due to their frailties and failures, they should have been hopelessly disqualified from God’s work.

Instead, we read that out of their mess, He wrought miracles. Nothing thwarts His purposes. As we surrender our weaknesses and have-nots to an all-powerful God, whose Spirit lives in us, we know true strength.