So I’m not defeated by my weakness, but delighted! For when I feel my weakness and endure mistreatment—when I’m surrounded with troubles on every side and face persecution because of my love for Christ—I am made yet stronger. For my weakness becomes a portal to God’s power. 2 Corinthians 12:10 TPT
We are probably all familiar with the Apostle Paul’s statement that when he is weak, then he is strong. Yet we are unlikely to relish the thought of being weak!
Experiencing weakness, however, is part of the human condition. We can experience different forms of weakness, at times, as we journey through life. As Isaiah 40: 29-30 reminds us:
He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.
Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. Isaiah 40: 29-30 NLT
I personally resonate with these verses from Isaiah. There have been times in my life when I have found myself experiencing physical weakness through illness or disease and also emotional weakness through challenging circumstances.
On some occasions these times have provided me with the opportunity to slow down, to stop, be still and to draw closer to God. Stopped in my tracks, I have had time to pause and reflect. I have found that God used these times and when I emerged from them, I had a stronger sense of purpose and direction and was closer to God as a result of them.
Reflect
I would like to invite you to take a few moments and
- To reflect on your own view of weakness
- To recall your experience of such times.
- What precipitated them?
- What helped you to traverse them?
- How did God meet you in them?
- In what ways did you feel stronger as a result of them?
Read
Now read these verses slowly three times and choose a word or phrase or sentence that you feel drawn to today. Ponder on it in the silence, for a few minutes, and see what God will show you through it.
Have you never heard?
Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
Isaiah 40: 28-30 NLT
Record
I suggest you record your experience of reflecting on your chosen word/phrase/verse in your journal.
Listen
There is an audio meditation called Tired on the into-deeper-waters.com website, if you would like to reflect further, on being Tired
Finally, you might like to listen to this music track by Max Richter