08.24.06
When I am weak, then I am strong
I got this in my inbox a while ago, and I thought it was quite funny… as well as encouraging!
| The next time you feel like GOD can’t use you, just remember… Noah was a drunk Abraham was too old Isaac was a daydreamer Jacob was a liar Leah was ugly Joseph was abused Moses had a stuttering problem Gideon was afraid Samson had long hair and was a womanizer Rahab was a prostitute Jeremiah and Timothy were too young David had an affair and was a murderer Elijah was suicidal Isaiah preached naked Jonah ran from God Naomi was a widow Job went bankrupt Peter denied Christ The Disciples fell asleep while praying Martha worried about everything Mary Magdalene was… The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once Zaccheus was too small Paul was too religious Timothy had an ulcer..AND Lazarus was dead! |
It just goes to show that God uses the weak and the lowly, calling sinners to sanctify themselves and the world. Even my weakness, God can use so that “when I am weak, then I am strong” (II Corinthians 12:10). I think we can see how God has a sense of humour in that the reality is so paradoxical. I thank God that he can use a sinner like me to bring His sanctity to others, through a Gospel of paradoxes; a redeeming “good news” which is so often shunned as an annoyance, the way to true freedom which is derided as a captivity. St. Paul put it best:
| For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth; but 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. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption; therefore, as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord.” (I Corinthians 1:21–31 RSV) |
Marc said,
September 17, 2006 at 8:42 pm
What was it about Elijah that God chose him to be used in a mighty way?
TTM said,
September 18, 2006 at 11:10 pm
Hi Marc,
Hm, I must say I don’t know enough about him to do him justice in answering that question. He seems to appear quite suddenly in I Kings 17:1, according to my Bible Dictionary.
Looking at the Catholic Encyclopedia article, it seems that he was possibly of Priestly descent (since he offered sacrifices), lived simply and poorly, and was bold in speaking up against the corrupt culture. He prefigures Christ in some ways, I think, since he appeared with Moses in Christ’s transfiguration (which, I think, was meant to indicate that Christ is the fulfillment of both). Certainly, Elijah’s priestly offering, ministry as a prophet and his assumption to heaven (2 Kings 2:11) have some similarity with the life of Christ.
Danny said,
June 29, 2008 at 12:17 pm
thanks