WHEN OUR STRENGTH FAILS

So many of us, born-again Christians do not realize that our Lord wants to strengthen us in the midst of trouble, empower us when we are weak, and give us the courage to move further when we feel like we cannot take another step. Most of us are taught that a good Christian has a firm faith, is always on top of things and is never overwhelmed by problems or pain. But everyday life has its ups and downs and whoever says they always live on the top of the mountain is not telling the whole truth. It may seem that it is true for a while, but deep inside every single believer is a human being that has their own set of fears, pains and failures.
 
Can you name one person from the Bible (excluding Jesus), that was always victorious, never suffered or wasn’t mistreated by others? Maybe you might say that everyone recorded in the Bible sinned, so they had to suffer for their sins. Yes, and this is also true about us. Jesus was the only one who never sinned and fulfilled His Father’s will. But even Jesus had His share of pain caused by fellow men, even before the supreme suffering at the cross.
 
So, if in the Bible we do not find super-believers that always lived being strong and victorious, why do we think we should? Why do we think that when we struggle and go through hard times, that it is because we do not have enough faith, are not as strong us we should be or that God abandoned us? Let’s look at the apostle Paul. From the time he became a Christian, life was not easy, as we can see from what he wrote about his tribulations in the following verses:

• 2 Corinthians 11:23-30 Are they ministers of Christ?--I speak as a fool--I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness-- 28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.

 
Certainly Paul understood pain and suffering, and many might say he was not always on top of things. But from God’s perspective, Paul’s life was successful, as he was doing what God called him to do, and he was trusting God in all his troubles. Paul never seemed to doubt God’s love, even when he went through so much. In the next chapter, Paul said that “fourteen years ago I was caught up to the third heaven” (2 Corinthians 12:2) where he received an abundance of revelation, and he understood that all the troubles he had to face helped keep him humble. First Paul did what we would all do, he prayed. And he did not pray just once, but three times for the Lord to remove his “thorn in the flesh,” which he called “a messenger of Satan.”

• 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 
 
Paul prayed three times for deliverance from the thorn, and the answer was not what he had believed for, but it teaches us an amazing truth! Paul, as all of us would, asked for the pain and suffering to stop, but the Lord’s answer changed everything! God actually said that even when we go through very hard times, His grace is there for us, and we are not alone as our Heavenly Father is always with us! And then, He continued saying, “for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So if we want to mature spiritually, to truly benefit from God’s power, we have to go through times when we are weak. While all goes well, and we seem to have it all together, and consider ourselves strong and powerful, we tend to think that we do not need God’s help. But when we are weak and hurting, everything changes. Suddenly we become very needy, and we cry out to the Lord to deliver us from trouble. Paul was no different. And then God told him he was not alone in the trial. And the Lord wants us to recognize that His presence is with us always, including in hard times, whether we feel it or not, He never leaves us nor forsakes us (Deuteronomy 31:6). The Lord is always with us, so we better allow Him to manifest His presence while we hurt, and we truly need His strength.
 
This does not mean that we should not pray for the Lord to take away our trouble, or fix the cause of our pain, while we go through hard times! Our Lord is a loving Father and He hears us. But there are times when His answer does not come as we want, like it happened with Paul, and we need to remember that what God told Paul, is also true for us! God has a certain measure of glory prepared for His children according to what they are facing. How can we know that? Let us read again what Paul wrote next: “… Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9b). And at the end of verse 10, Paul wrote, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” The apostle learned this firsthand. He experienced the power of God in His life and that strengthened him to face all the imprisonments, beatings, starvation, and all that he went through during his ministry, and we can read about in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28.
 
We can all experience the power of Jesus in our lives while facing hard times, if we do not simply pray for deliverance from what hurts us, but we pray something like, “Nevertheless Lord, please be with me in this trial, strengthen me to handle it as You will, help me grow in loving and trusting You in this situation, because in weakness Your power is made perfect in me! Please help me see the good You do for me in this hardship and the strength I have in You in this weakness so that the coming victory will be way more precious! Help me become whatever You planned for me to be and live my life fully dependent on You!” When we truly surrender it all unto our Lord, His power and glory will manifest in our lives. By submission we get out of the way and make room for what God wants to do.

• 1 Corinthians 1:26-27 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.   But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

 
God does not look for mighty Christians to use, He uses the weak so He can shine through them! Whenever we feel like we are at the end of our strength, if we continue in faith, we can experience God’s miracle. The enemy would do anything to make us believe we are defeated, abandoned by God, for sure that God does not love us anymore, that’s why He did not deliver us from the trial and so on. But it is not true! This is not the end, we are not defeated, even if we feel like giving up. If we will then call on the Lord, He can then say, “It is alright My child, I’ll take over from here, and you will make it, because My power is made perfect in weakness.” When we come to the end of ourselves, we know for sure that we can continue on, only because of God’s grace and strength! The Lord deserves all of the glory! Then we can boast more gladly as Paul did, about our weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on us! This is the path to success and spiritual growth as we become stronger with every trial we face.
 
Our Lord wants us strong in Him, able to move and act based on His empowerment and not in ourselves, so that we give Him all the glory. But living based on who He is in us and following His direction fully, pride has no place in our hearts. And we all know that “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5b). Let us not be afraid of anything, because our Lord is our strength and as long as we follow Him and want to fulfill His will, we will never be alone or defeated by our weaknesses.
 

Carmen Pușcaș