Strength From Weakness
STRENGTH FROM WEAKNESS
Weaknesses! We all have them, and we all hate 'em! We usually feel contempt toward the ones we see in ourselves and would prefer not to have to deal with the ones we see in others. Many of us limp along, hoping for some miracle that would change us, instead of trying to understand our weaknesses and the role they play in our lives.
Let me make clear what I mean by a weakness. I am not talking about sin. Sin should never be dealt with as a weakness, and weaknesses should never be dealt with as sin.
Weaknesses often form in our personalities during the early developmental years. For example, my father died unexpectedly when I was a year old. My mother was left with five children and no home, car, or income. She had nothing and became very fearful. She raised us to be fearful. It has been one of the greatest weaknesses of my life and something my siblings and I have had to struggle with daily. It is not a sin, nor is it something that I was instantly delivered from; I had to learn how to be disciplined instead. It propelled me toward more of the grace of God in my life than I could have imagined. I wrote about this at length in my book, Following The Eyes of Your Heart.
Recognizing that we all have weaknesses is half the battle; what we do with them is the other half. Here is an example found in the context of marriage. As husbands, we are told to live with our wives with understanding:
Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered. (1 Peter 3:7)
Notice he doesn’t say, “live with them if they change!” We need to understand each other's weaknesses and how they came to be. Rather than resenting them or divorcing because of them, we need to build Peter’s advice into our lives.
Having weaknesses at work within us can cause us to leave our marriages, our churches, and our friendships. Discerning the weaknesses in others can have the same effect. What do these weaknesses look like?
THE THORN IN THE FLESH
The apostle Paul had been struggling with a spiritual attack which he described as a thorn in the flesh. In the narrative, Paul wisely omitted what form this spiritual attack had taken. That way, each of us could apply the principle involved, even though the messenger of Satan might manifest itself differently in each of our lives and circumstances.
Paul prayed that God would remove the thorn. When it did not go away, he prayed again. Nothing changed, which perplexed this man of prayer, who had experienced remarkable open communion with the Living Christ. He seemed surprised that he had to ask more than once. When he took the issue up with the Lord the third time, Jesus spoke to him, saying, “My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in your weakness.”
It is not a reasonable goal to remove weaknesses from our lives. A higher goal should be to learn what our weaknesses are, and then lean how to turn them into strengths, which allows us to live victoriously in spite of them.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
God has given Penn a unique ability to communicate His grace in a way that is both profound and practical. From the very beginning, Penn has been a diligent steward of the revelations he has been given, writing them out, polishing them, and making them available to others. Now, with more than seventy books available from a lifetime of study, each book is an example of how to handle the Word of God with integrity. To learn more about Penn, go to www.pennclark.net or www.pennclark.study.