Weakness: The Current of Spiritual Intimacy
Strong currents can be terrifying. Have you ever waded into a river and had to uncomfortably acknowledge that if you lost your footing, you would no longer control your course but rather the current would? I know folks who have felt the utter terror of being caught in a rip tide, being cast further and further from the safety of the shore. But what if where the current carried us, was the place where we wanted to go? Where a ride once marked by fear and struggle, could turn into surrender…and just maybe, delight. The painful awareness of our weaknesses can feel like currents, taking us helplessly to places we do not want to go, while exposing us to the reality that we are not as sure footed in life as we had previously supposed. “Am I the only one that feels this way?” we may ask ourselves. And yet, even one of the mightiest men in Scripture, the apostle Paul, was no stranger to this experience. After asking the Lord to remove his most debilitating weakness, Jesus responded to Paul…
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast even more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 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” – 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Paul learned a paradox; through the current of weaknesses, we find the sweet grace of Jesus’s presence and experience His power resting upon us. When Paul felt the current of his own weaknesses, he did not cautiously wade, he dove in headfirst…embracing, boasting, and delighting in them. In one verse he is pleading with the Lord to stop the current, the next he is floating down the river with joy on his face. But how can we go from loathing our weaknesses to delighting in them? Only when we realize they are conduits to relationship with the One we long for. And only when we have surrendered the illusion of control and have been met with Jesus’s sustaining grace.
Weaknesses are the headwaters of deep intimacy with Jesus. Do not cut off the headwaters, do not dam them up, do not divert the current…let them flow. Let them be felt and carry you into His presence and power. Unwittingly, where we resist or mask them, we anchor our movement towards our Christ our Refuge. Without these currents we may swim ourselves, in our own mirage of strength, to places devoid of our Savior. If weakness brought us to the feet of Jesus in the first place, it will keep us clutched to Him in dependency. Then perhaps, we too, like Paul, should delight in the things that reveal neediness, that we might find what we truly long for in the One we were made for. There, and only there, are we strong in His everlasting arms (Deut. 33:27). When we do, we can say like John Hindley,
“Weakness is a guide to Christ, a friend who invites us into dependence on a God who is completely dependable.” – Weakness our Strength
If you long to explore your weaknesses and find Jesus in them, Burke Care would love to wade into those waters alongside you.
Father, show Yourself strong in my weakness and weak moments. When my broken, sinful heart runs amuck, draw near to me. When my pride flares up, cause me to stop and listen humbly to Your Word. Hide myself in You. Father, cause the eyes of my heart to see You as the loving Father that you are. Do the work in me that I can not do for myself and create in me a desire to pursue You all the days of my life. Amen
Application Questions:
1. When you consider your most persistent weakness, does it function to carry you towards your Savior?
2. Does the reminder of this weakness bring you delight or dread?
3. Where do you feel the strongest? In the absence of weaknesses, or in the embrace of Jesus in your weakness?
