Weakness
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
This verse is one of my favorites. Paul is writing to the Corinthian people and talking to them about a struggle that he has—a struggle that he’s lived with for awhile and can’t seem to get rid of. What’s beautiful is that we see Paul, a man unwavering in his faith in Jesus, confess that he is weak.
I have a hard time admitting my weakness. It’s hard to ask for help. For some reason I feel embarrassed and ashamed of my failures and I try to pretend like I can do everything on my own.
I wrestle with this so much that I pray for myself each day a prayer that I found in a book. It says, “God I am a person in desperate need of help. Please send helpers my way and give me the humility to receive the help you have provided.”
Why is it that we hate weakness so much? Why do we try to pretend like we have it all together, afraid to let others see who we really are? The Bible tells us that God wants us to run to him in our weakness and need. We can come to him overwhelmed, stressed out, and empty-handed. He loves for us to come humbly to him, acknowledging our failure and mess.
Sometimes we think that as we grow up in our faith, we’ll stop needing so much of God’s grace. We’ll stop making foolish decisions, and we’ll learn how to stop sinning. The truth is that we will always need grace. We will never get to the bottom of our need.
Did you know that this is what the Christian life is about? It is a continuous cycle of us admitting our need and asking God for help.
God loves for us to run to him, to acknowledge that we are weak, and to ask him for forgiveness, strength, and comfort. Our weakness is a doorway that his grace rushes into. He invites us to watch him provide for us and to trust that he will use our biggest struggles to bring him glory.
For Further Reading: Isaiah 40:29-31