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Experiencing Weakness

There‘s no way around it. God‘s process of growth in your life is going to involve weakness. This in-over-your-head journey of developing intimacy, dependence, faith, and rest is going to bring you into situations where your natural strength, abilities, and energy are exhausted. It‘s just part of the deal. When I read the Bible, I see that I can‘t avoid weakness as I follow Jesus. I also see that I‘m supposed to have a particular attitude toward weakness. In the New Testament, everyone from Paul to Peter to James talks about this attitude. They don‘t talk about tolerating weakness or enduring weakness with gritted teeth. They used words like joy, rejoice, and delight.

This attitude is completely upside-down and counter to my natural attitude toward weakness, and I don‘t think I‘m the only one. Hardship, suffering, trials, persecution—these are not experiences we naturally associate with joy. Any experience that attacks our strength triggers fear and insecurity, which is usually the opposite of delightful, so the idea of trying to enjoy weakness strikes most of us as weird, almost wrong. Where do Paul, Peter, and James come up with this attitude of rejoicing in weakness?

They all give the same reason. Experiencing weakness gives us access to two things we can get in no other way: proven faith and supernatural strength.