The older I get, the more I experience human frailty. My aches and pains, my worsening eyesight, my bald head. All remind me that my body is slowly deteriorating. I won’t lie and say that I like it. I’d rather be strong and healthy. But God has His reasons for allowing us to go through this process of slow decay, and we learn what those reasons are by reading His Word.
It helps us stay humble.
For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
~II Corinthians 4:6-7
When we fool ourselves into thinking that we are strong and capable, we are tempted to take credit for the good we do.
But when we are keenly aware of our weakness, we are under no illusion that we can accomplish anything good in our own strength.
We must never forget that our very existence depends on God’s sustaining power, for it is in Him that “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
Apart from Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5).
Everything we have, everything we are is a gift from God.
It ensures that God gets the glory.
God often uses the weakest, most unlikely people to accomplish great things so that there can be no doubt that He alone deserves the credit.
When God chose Gideon to rescue Israel from the Midianites, Gideon said:
…“how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!”
~Judges 6:15
When Samuel went to the house of Jesse to anoint one of Jesse’s sons king, Jesse thought so little of his youngest boy, David, that he didn’t even bring him before Samuel initially. But God rejected the older sons who were big and strong and confident in their own strength, and instead chose the shepherd boy who understood that true strength comes from the Lord.
Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you.
Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.
God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.
As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
I Corinthians 1:26-29
God uses the weak and frail so there can be no doubt that the power does not come from the person, but from God.
It allows us to experience God’s grace.
The Apostle Paul knew what it was to suffer weakness. He didn’t much like it either, and he asked God to intervene. But God had other plans:
even though I [Paul] have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.
Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.
Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.
That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
~II Corinthians 12:7-10
We are naught but fragile, clay jars, but that is by God’s design. Rather than despair, rejoice that though you are weak, He is strong. If you remain humble, and give glory to God, He will make His light shine in your heart, and He will do mighty things through you, in spite of your weakness.
