After a particularly busy stretch of ministry, my husband and I were looking forward to a long, romantic weekend to our favorite getaway. Throwing some clothes into a bag, we set off, anticipating a time of refreshment for our weary souls.
The following morning, I woke up with plans for the day already forming in my mind. Yet as I lay there, I became increasingly aware that my body felt weak and void of energy. An hour later, I realized our day might not go as I had planned.
The next few days brought more of the same as I lay exhausted in bed. My gracious husband encouraged me to rest, occasionally leaving the room to hit a few golf balls. Despite my meager attempts to ride in the car, go out to eat, and hike, our time away fell far short of our expectations. My exhausted body would simply not be pushed anymore.
On our last morning, I lay beside my husband sulking in self-pity. Turning to him I said, “I’m just so frustrated that I have no strength!” “That’s okay,” he responded, “I will be your strength for now.”
Taken aback by such grace, I exclaimed, “Wow, that is such a reflection of Christ.” Yet, in the very next moment, I complained, “But I don’t want your strength. I want my own!”
Later, as I processed my response with God’s Word in hand, I was confronted with the reality that this is my battle every day. Christ offers me His strength and help moment by moment, but all too often I respond with a spirit of self-sufficiency.
The truth is, I don’t like being weak. I want to be strong, steady, and full of energy. Yet God’s Word reminds me that, “He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor. 1:27), and “His power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9).
When God told Paul that His grace was sufficient for Paul’s affliction, Paul’s response was to boast all the more gladly about his weaknesses so that Christ’s power would rest on Him! The reason Paul could do this was because his greatest desire was not to show the world what he could do for God but to show the world what God had done for him.
Understandably, we don’t naturally welcome the trials that come our way, yet God demonstrates His glory best when we stop striving and lean into His all-sufficient grace. How does God want to be your strength right now?
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