TURNING WEAKNESS INTO OPPORTUNITIES!
How easy it is to allow our human weakness to overwhelm or defeat us. The good news is that God delights in taking our human weakness and turning it into an ideal opportunity whereby we will discover the full extent of His graciousness! Take as an example the life of Paul, the apostle. There was a time in his life where he spent precious moments pleading with God to take away a severe affliction that had come into his life. It is not important that we know what the precise nature of this affliction was - all we need to know is that whatever it was it appeared that it was uncomfortable & was a source of frustration & irritation to him. His solution was, "God, remove it - take it away from me!" But God had a better solution!
Human weakness provides the ideal opportunity for the display of God's power in our life! I have often pondered & reflected upon the words of Paul in 11 Corinthians 4:8,9:
"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."
What was the process enabling Paul to arrive at this exceptional state of reality that obviously he had attained? It seems to me that at some point in his life he began seizing the opportunities that came to him through hardships. Little by little, over time, he discovered that through less resistance to these hardships and more surrendering his life to God in the midst of these hardships brought a deeper awareness of the all-surpassing power that God released in his life! As time went on, it appears that his perspective on hardships & difficulties changed for he was discovering that it was during those times that God became more alive & powerful in his life. It was this awakening to God's power & presence that he refers to as being a "treasure".
How sad it is that we have allowed a mindset other than God's perspective to embrace us regarding the realities of such experiences of life as difficulties, insults, hardships & persecutions. In fact for many a person who claim to be followers of God they have embarked on a journey that they hope will be relatively free of frustrations, of difficulties, of hardships, of the pressures & stresses of life! There are those who would say that these realities are signs that we must be outside of the will of God! Why would they believe that? To some degree this way of thinking is a Western World phenomenon. Somehow the message comes through to us that life is all about having fun - having all my "needs" met - hardships & suffering is something outside the scope of God's will for humankind! Obviously, this way of thinking could only take root in the Western World where there is an abundance - a high standard of living! The Good News is that God will display His power in our lives in the midst of our hardships, when the "bells & whistles" are not present!
Dear reader, you may be facing some significant hardships in your life - a lay-off notice or results from recent x-rays or blood work, or news that your partner is leaving you, or that bankruptcy is imminent, etc. This is your opportunity to discover in a powerful way God's presence in your life - keep turning your life & your will over to God - sometimes the greater the pain, the threat, the more we need to keep turning the crisis over to God - until we sense a peace, a calmness entering our life - we are now entering the "eye of the hurricane"! Hear the words of Paul in 11 Corinthians 12:9-10:
"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."