I admit that I have a particular weakness. I’m not so proud that I won’t let my secret out. I’ll make it known to the world that I have a complete utter weakness to none other than – coffee! It’s so bad that the Bible verse in Proverbs that says, “An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels”? If it wouldn’t get me in trouble with my wife, I’d put coffee in that verse!
Weaknesses are one of those facets of life that most don’t like to discuss. Weaknesses indicate where we are lacking, where we fail, or where we find it a struggle to resist.
I can admit I have my own. And if you make an honest self-evaluation, you’ll find you have yours as well. We all do. It’s one of the commonalities we share as humans. We are imperfect (the first step is admitting it!). But we have a God who is perfect and wants us to come to Him with open hands and open hearts, carrying our weaknesses to Him, trading them in for His strength, peace, and blessing. However, we tend to keep our hands tight-fisted around them, refusing to let them go. And in that refusal we lose the opportunity for God to pour out what we need. It’s as if God is waiting to give us exactly what we need, but we end up being the ones holding Him back by not letting go. Think about it like this – can you catch water if it is flowing down on the backs of your closed hands? Of course not! And neither can God pour out into you what you need if your attitude is of the same design.
This astonishes me – we can be so reluctant at following through on His offer. We can be such stubborn people! It is like having a disease and the cure is just across the street. All that’s needed is to get up, pick yourself up, and walk on over to get it.
I like how Pastor put it Sunday morning. “It is easy to get comfortable in our weaknesses”. They become the norm from which we operate from. They become what we perceive as a safe place when just the opposite is true. We are reluctant to move because we are comfortable. This reminds me of a series I taught a few years ago based on Peter’s walk out on the water. In the series, the boat represented safety, our comfort zone. And the series challenged us to get out of the boat, out of our comfort zones, and walk where only Jesus could support us and hold us up.
It’s that way with weaknesses. They can end up becoming a comfort zone. Can we really become so attached to them that it feels as though we are threatened when God wants to help us through them? Do we become trapped by weaknesses? How do we cope with weaknesses or infirmities that God chooses not to deliver us from?
For the next three days, we will explore these questions and more through part of the scripture that Pastor spoke on Sunday morning (John 5:1-9). As we do, I encourage you to make a sober evaluation of your own weaknesses. Yes I know it’s not fun to do, but becoming more aware of where we are weak makes it all the more easy for us to take them to Him where His power is perfected in our weakness!
