Here are some synonyms for the key word in this article: frail, debilitated, delicate, poor — certainly nothing to brag about — wavering, infirm, bending, lame, defenseless, vulnerable, fragile, pliant — and there are more yet — feeble, watery, diluted, undecided, assailable, irresolute, unsteady, yielding, and tender. Weakness is quite a condition to be in.
In our society of rugged individualism and survival of the fittest, weakness is not too highly regarded. In fact, weakness is something to avoid at all costs. If a person feels weak, then they should try their best not to let it show. As the saying goes, “Never let them see you sweat.” With that kind of philosophy, it is only natural that those who are weak are disregarded. They are undesirable, outcasts, and misfits that don’t quite cut it in the “real world.”
God chooses the weak
The paradox of strength through weakness is a theme that we see throughout the Bible. Time after time we see God choosing those who were weak for some great task, or taking someone in an impossible situation of utter helplessness and making him a commander, a ruler, a prophet, or an apostle. Indeed, when we try to rationalize a situation such as the choosing of Gideon or Joseph or Elijah or Paul, we see an apparent “foolishness” on God’s part.
Consider the selection of David to be the next king of Israel. The youngest of all his sons, Jesse never even considered presenting him to Samuel as a possible choice. Yet the accomplishments which would characterize his life reflect a man who was predominantly strong. David’s strength, however, wasn’t worldly strength; it was strength given to him by God. David’s accomplishment lay within the strength of his faith in God. It was because of this strong level of faith that God helped him to become the character of strength we think of today. The lion, the bear, the giant Philistine, and the many, many other mighty works were all based on David’s faith.
Be strong in faith
The same feature was seen not only on an individual basis but also with the nation of Israel as a whole. In Numbers 13 and 14 (Num. 13,14: 1 – 10), God wanted the children to trust in Him regarding the land they were to inherit. Due to their unbelief, God committed them to walk in the wilderness a year for every day the spies were in the land. All God wanted was the Israelites to trust in him and not to rely on their own power. I have to admit that if I were among the Israelites, it might be scary for me to have 12 prominent men, one from each tribe, return from spending 40 days in a strange land that I was supposed to help conquer, and to have 10 of them tell me how many and how large the people were across the border and how impossible it would be to possess the land. Despite the reassurance of Joshua and Caleb, you can just imagine the level of fear the children had.
Of course it’s easy for us to say “How could they possibly NOT trust in God? He had sustained them for so long and with so many signs.” However, the followers of Moses had hardened their hearts, and this is a condition to which we can all be subjected. I know I can’t readily say how willing I would be to take the land by force after hearing men, whom I admired, be so adamant against going. With the benefit of hindsight, we now know how foolish they were not to trust in God even though they were weak. As we read in Psalms 6:1-2 (NKJV), David passionately beseeched God to heal him in his weakness, “O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor chasten me in your hot displeasure. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled.” So, God wants us to turn to Him in our weakness.
Made perfect in weakness
Consider the apostle Paul. He had a serious problem he asked the Lord to remove. But the Lord’s reply was: “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Paul’s reaction was: “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (II Cor. 12:8-10).
What did Paul mean when he said that when he was weak, he was strong?
The answer surely is that when we empty ourselves of our own importance and self will, and become weak in our own eyes and rely on the help that comes from God, then we are strong in His strength.
The natural man doesn’t begin to understand the things of God and they often appear foolish to him. Divine things don’t seem to provide an answer in a world where he is struggling with “real” problems and burdens which weigh him down to the point of despair. Paul understood this and wrote about the apparent “foolishness” of God when he said, “The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men’s strength.” In I Corinthians 1:25-31, we are told by Paul to glory in the Lord, and not in ourselves. This is why some of those who are wealthy, those who are talented, those who are very beautiful can have a harder time in their service to the Lord, for these people fall into the temptation of glorying in themselves.
The foolish buck
Here is a story to help illustrate this meaning. There once was a buck that loved to brag about his antlers, but hated his legs. He would go on and on about how beautiful his antlers were, and how magnificent they made him look. He loved the attention that they drew, and paraded around, showing them off to whomever would pay attention. “Look how beautiful my antlers are. Aren’t they gorgeous?” However, he couldn’t stand his legs. He did not appreciate them at all. “I wish my legs weren’t so small and skinny. They make me look bad.”
Well one day in the midst of the buck’s puffed up display, a lion approached and sprang upon the unsuspecting deer. They all ran speedily away, fast and swift, and the buck was no exception. His legs carried him very quickly away from the lion, and he was just about home free. However, upon passing a tree, the buck’s antlers got caught, entangling him amidst the branches. Soon the lion was upon him and he was killed. Indeed it wasn’t the buck’s big, impressive antlers that gave him a chance to be saved, it was his “skinny little legs,” whereas his antlers led to his downfall. God reveals Himself to the meek and the poor in spirit of this world because those who are “strong” don’t really need Him.
The whispering voice
The Lord wants us to be weak in the flesh, but strong in the spirit. We read this in I Kings 19:11-12. The Lord was NOT in the wind that tore into the mountain and broke the rocks from it, nor was He in the ensuing earthquake, nor was He even in the fire, but following all the massive displays of power, what followed was a still, small voice, in which the Lord chose to reveal Himself. In my margin, I have also noted “a delicate, whispering voice.” Is this whisper considered strong in the world? I think not. Yet in Kings we were just reminded of the enormous power of God. In the movies, a Booming, Loud voice would announce what God had to say, but a self-controlled, humble spirit is what God wants — a broken spirit, a contrite heart.
Strengthened in faith
Although Abraham must have felt weak many times, his faith was not weak. He never wavered in his belief in God although he faced an enormous challenge to his faith. “And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God” Romans 4:19-20.
So we should also have patience with those around us whose weaknesses are possibly more apparent than our own. For as we bear with the weak, Christ will bear with us in our weaknesses and forgive us if we go to him for forgiveness, Romans 15:1- 6.
And as little children, we should be weak in spirit and dependent on God in all things, approaching Him in prayer regularly. Jesus instructed us even in his last hours of the importance of remaining strong in faith as he was about to be betrayed in Gethsemane, Matthew 26:36-41. Let us strive then to keep the flesh in control and keep the spirit strong in faith.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One