Focus: In Our Weakness!

Text: 1Cor.2:3

"And I was with you in WEAKNESS, and in fear, and in much trembling."

Weakness is part of our human reality. No one is strong and another weak. We are all weak one way or another. Job says, "I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister… How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?" (Jb.17:14; 25:6). The psalmist says, "But I am a WORM, and no man" (Ps.22:6). Again, he says, "For he knoweth our FRAME; he remembereth that we are DUST" (Ps.103:14). God says to Israel, "Fear not, thou WORM Jacob…" (Isa.41:14). Humans are as weak as the worms of the earth. We are dignified dust. What makes us unique is the divinity in us, that is, the image of God. 

In Hamlet, William Shakespeare praised man thus: "What piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving, how express and admirable in action, how like an angel in apprehension, how like a god! The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals," but then he adds, "And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?" Man is most typical of dust. He represents dust in its beauty or the finest of everything that ever came out of dust.

We live in a world where, according to Eric Hoffer, "power corrupts a few, while weakness corrupts the many," and "the acknowledgment of our weakness," says Thomas A. Kempis, "is the first step in repairing our loss."

Weakness implies limitations, deficiency, fault, flaws, frailty, fragility, infirmity, inability, or liability, and it is out of our weakness that we may cultivate and advance our strength. Everyone has got seasons of darkness or weakness. If your weakness is not yet showing today, then it is most likely going to show tomorrow. Weakness cannot be hidden for long, because it is an integral part of what we are. Every human being has got the potential to fail. Hezekiah says, "For the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth" (2Kgs.19:3). Hezekiah is describing weakness in the face of battle. The psalmist says, "The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle" (Ps.78:9). Ephraim is armed to the teeth, but quits in the day of battle. That is weakness. He trained and got armed for nothing.

In the matter of Christ dying on the cross, Paul describes God as being weak. He says, "The weakness of God is stronger than men" (1Cor.1:25). He says, "For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you" (2Cor.13:4). The people demanded that He prove to them that He was the Son of God by coming down from the cross, but He did not. The Lord of glory allowed Himself to be crucified without a fight. They had no idea that His weakness was indeed His strength. 

He came to save others, not Himself. By His seeming demonstration of weakness on the cross He was actually transferring His strength to those who would believe in Him.

One thing about human weakness is that even our strength can be our weakness. Our strength often leads to pride.

There are lessons to learn from our weakness. The following are some of them. 

*In our moments of weakness we need the strength of others.

*In our weakness we come to appreciate the grace of God.

*In our weakness we begin to appreciate the power of God.

*In our weakness we learn to totally rely on God.

*In our weakness we make room for others' weaknesses, identify with them, and we become less judgmental of others.

*In our weakness we learn humility and bury our pride. 

*In our weakness we commit ourselves more to prayer and to the practice of faith. Paul says, "The Spirit helpeth our infirmities…" (Rom.8:26).

*In our weakness we begin to appreciate the place and role of the miraculous of God in our human existence. God helps to do what we cannot do for ourselves and by ourselves.

*In our weakness we get to understand that we are not in charge of this life, but God is.

*In our weakness we get to see the need to support others in their own weakness. Paul says, "Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?" (2Cor.11:29). Job says, "Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands" (Jb.4:3). Paul says, "For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection" (2Cor.13:9). Joel declares, "Let the weak say, I am strong" (Joel 3:10).

Jesus Christ says, "But the flesh is weak" (Mt.26:41). All humans have their time or point of weakness. David says, "And I am this day weak, though anointed king" (2Sam.3:39). Anointing of kingship does not mean the elimination of weakness.

Paul says, "I take pleasure in infirmities… for when I am weak, then am I strong" (2Cor.12:10).

*In our weakness we count on the strength of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ says to Paul, and by extension, to us, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2Cor.12:9). We read of some Old Testament saints who "quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, OUT OF WEAKNESS WERE MADE STRONG, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens" (Heb.11:34). Charles Stanley says, "Whatever brings you to your knees in weakness carries the greatest potential for your personal success and spiritual victory." Paul tells us, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God" (2Cor.3:5).

It is in our weakness that God's power is made manifest in our lives. It takes being weak to appreciate the power of God. Women are described by Peter as "weaker vessels," which as a comparative word implies that men are weak vessels too (1Pet.3:7). We are all weak differently and in need of God's strength. We receive power when the Spirit comes on us. Amen!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter