The Power of Weakness

Written by Vinnie Tumia. 

Being a Christ-follower is not for wimps.

The world wants to convince us that having God in our lives is like having a crutch because of weakness…and actually, they are right. A relationship with God is about dependency and recognizing what is true about us: we are weak, frail, dependent, and sinful.

Psalms 33:22
Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.

The sooner we recognize and admit that the better off we are. By way of illustration, Asa realized this when a superior force surrounded his army. His first response was crying out to God.

2 Chronicles 14:11
And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee.

Asa knew that he was a dead man unless God intervened. He knew that all his military training was good, but that would not be enough to save the lives of his men on this day. So he called out to his sovereign God. And God came through powerfully. This day would find its way into the history books, and baffle military strategists for years to come. The out-manned military won, but not by power or intelligent planning. It happened by an unseen force known as weakness.

A few short years later, the weakness of Asa was not his strength. We are told that he recognized where he was susceptible, yet twice he failed to turn to God. Once was in a military situation (2 Chronicles 16:9), and another with personal illness (2 Chronicles 16:12).

He forgot that “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” He worked hard to cover his weakness through ideas and connections. However, he overlooked that God allows and ordains weakness to call us to dependency. God gives his power in proportion to our acknowledged dependence on Him.

We hate weakness, but through it we most clearly discover God.