Things That Matter Most. . . No.3

THE STRENGTH OF WEAKNESS

The point of this article is illustrated in the utter helplessness of a newly born infant. He is the very epitome of weakness. For many months he is wholly dependent on others for his existence. Most animals can shift for themselves only a few hours after birth, and nearly all of them are able to sustain themselves after the first few days. But not man.

Such a humble beginning should get man off to a right start, ever causing him to realize his dependence on others for life itself, and ever conscious of the providential care of a power beyond all men. But men grow proud and forget, and come to believe too much in their own resources. They despise weakness and esteem strength—their own strength. Herein lies tragedy.

There is a precious truth in the fact that an infant’s strength lies in his weakness. Without the ability even to turn over on his side without someone’s help, he is soon the commander-in-chief of the entire household. Unable even to speak a word concerning his most basic needs, he has everyone around him scurrying about in response to his beck and call. He assumes the throne even when he cannot lift a little finger. And he does not have to be considerate of others in issuing his directives, for when he speaks they jump, whether out of bed or out of a comfortable chair.

It is one of life’s strange contradictions that there is strength in weakness just as there is wisdom in ignorance, and the Bible speaks of both.

Surely one of the great neglected truths of the Bible is that the Lord’s power is made perfect in weakness: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). This is why Paul goes on to say: “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities: for when I am weak, then I am strong.” While nearly all of us are eager to demonstrate strength, the apostle told the Corinthians: “I was with you in weakness and in much fear and trembling; and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power” (1 Cor. 2:3-4).

Paul is not monastic or ascetic in his talk about weakness. So thrilled was he over the grace of God that he could never believe that through self-inflicted bodily suffering he could attain forgiveness. The weakness that he refers to is given to him of the Lord—”a thorn in the flesh” is the name he gives it. He no longer prays that the Lord will take it away, for now he sees that God’s power is made perfect in weakness. Now he is pleased to be weak, for in his weakness the power of God can be demonstrated.

The Bible sees this true of that “great cloud of witnesses” that surround the Church of Christ, for they “conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness. . . “ (Heb. 11:34)

When I am weak, then I am strong! They won strength out of weakness! This is so contrary to the worldly philosophy that measures strength in terms of real estate, bank accounts, and reputation—a viewpoint that prevails even in the church. The Christians and churches are few who welcome weakness so that God’s strength can boldly be manifest in them. We seek a self-sufficiency that tends to rise above any special need of God. Our strength is our own. We want to swell the ranks to an impressive number, not reduce the ranks as God did Gideon’s army. When God says “You have too many,” He is telling us that He wants to make a minority a majority by taking His stand with us.

The great moments in history are God’s use of weak, ignorant men, not strong, wise ones. Moses couldn’t talk. Jeremiah was but a youth. Gideon was the poorest of the poor. And they all gave these weaknesses as excuses, but God made them strong in their weakness. So with the apostles. They were insignificant fishermen who smelled of fish, but the word they proclaimed traveled to the ends of the earth.

“God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Cor. 1:27-29).

God cannot make much use of any man who supposes he is wise or strong, for whatever God would do through him would only enhance the man’s own self-esteem. So God shames the wise and strong, as he did Pharaoh. God cannot use to His glory that which man idolizes, for then the idol would be honored all the more. So God chooses what is low and despised through which to do His mighty work, as he did with a farm hard, the prophet Amos.

Paul says that it was in the wisdom of God that the world did not know God through wisdom. God so arranged things that the world would know Him through faith or not at all. For this reason the Christ was a stumbling-block to the Jews and folly to Gentiles. The Jews expected God to act according to the traditions of Judaism, while the Greeks would insist that He reveal Himself according to the wisdom of the philosophers. God did it differently: “It pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe” (1 Cor. 1:21).

And so Paul could write one of the most unusual of all Biblical truths: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:25) . He is saying that God’s power is made perfect in weakness, that it is only as men humble themselves before the old rugged cross, so despised by carnal wisdom, that they can be made whole.

Paul gives the why of all this when he says “so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” God has shown caution all through history to make sure that man’s pride is given no incentive. Paul points out that God did not call many who were wise and powerful by worldly standards. The gospel pours contempt on human pride.

It is remarkable that the God of heaven should bypass the mighty peoples of earth and choose the lowly Jews as the vehicle for His purposes. The Greeks and Romans were impressive people, but it pleased God to select the most unimpressive. While he did make use of the Greeks and Romans, it was in ways that could hardly feed man’s pride. The Greeks supplied the language that would couch the gospel message, but it was the common tongue of the man on the street, not that of Plato and Euripedes. And the Romans he used as road-builders and protectors so that the lowly Jew could carry the gospel to the world.

The Messiah could have been born of an Egyptian queen, but it was an obscure Jewish peasant girl instead. He could have slept in the bed of a prince, marked with a royal coat of arms, but He was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger alongside cattle. The apostles could have been merchants, bankers, and philosophers, but they were ignorant and unlearned men. Even the Messiah’s forerunner came from the wilderness, dressed rudely and behaving strangely.

There was nothing to attract man’s pride. There still isn’t if the gospel is truly presented. When the church turns to an educated clergy, pretentious edifices, and impressive budgets it may feed man’s vanity more than his hungry soul. We may be much too far from the simplicity of “the church that is in thy house.” God cannot do much through a strong and affluent church, unless like Paul it is content to become weak; but look what He did with the poor, struggling church in Thessalonica.

It is as newborn babes, and not as self-sufficient giants, that we are to seek the sincere milk of the word, Peter assures us. Like the Christ who is our example, we are to seek perfection through weakness. Isaiah says of Him: “He poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors,” and because He chose to be weak, the prophet says that God will make Him strong (Isa. 53:12-13). God can use us only when we are weak, for it is only in our weakness that His power can be made perfect.

“Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practice kindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord.” (Jer. 9:23-24)—the Editor