In Our Weakness, His Strength is Made Perfect!

This past weekend my plans to attend a retreat with the ladies at my church were thwarted. Instead I found myself in the bed with an upper respiratory infection. I spent many hours in the bed. I know this is a reminder to slow down! There comes a time when our bodies finally let us know that we have to stop and rest.

During this time I have pondered the whole thing about being weak. It is times like this that I am reminded that in and of myself, I can do nothing! Then I remember the verse in 2 Corinthians 9 where God tells us that His grace is sufficient for us and that His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Look at what the Message Bible says: 2 Cor. 12:9-10 - "and then he told me, My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size - abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become."

Then I was taken to Hebrews 11, the chapter in the Bible that is known as "The Hall of Fame of Faith." This chapter lists such Biblical heroes as Noah, Abraham, Sara and others and how they had faith. In verses 32-40, the author of Hebrews goes on to say that there were many others that he did not have time to go into detail about but he listed some of the things they did that proved their faith. Look what he said they did in verses 33 and 34: "who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." Did you see it?! Right in the middle of the list of subduing kingdoms, stopping lions' mouths, and being valient in battle is what jumped out of the page at me: "out of weakness were made strong!" I think that point of faith comes when in our weak times, we stop and say, "Yes, Lord, I thank you for my weaknesses that remind me that I can do nothing without you. I surrender my weakness to allow Your strength to flow through me!"

Yes, I do thank God that He has touched my body and that I am out of the bed today, but I thank Him even more for the reminder of His strength that is carrying me!

Lord, I pray that my weakness will be an opportunity to excercise faith--faith that shows Your strength to those around me!