Weakness and Strength

How often do we worry that we are weak? When the struggles of life start to weigh us down, we sometimes get weak in the knees and feel we don’t have the strength to continue. But it’s not always the feeling of physical weakness that makes us tremble; it’s often the feeling that we are alone in the battle. It is always easier in a negative situation to look to people for support than it is to turn our sights to Jesus who is not there in the flesh.

I recently found myself looking to others for the strength I needed to keep pushing on as I battle against Multiple Sclerosis. I looked to friends to do what was in my best interest and to help me through a crisis, but, as humans sometimes do, they chose the path of selfishness instead of selflessness, and I felt let down.

My wife, who next to Christ, is my biggest supporter, always stands strong with me when I’m tempted to feel sorry for myself. No doubt, she is a tremendous blessing, but even her undying love and support can’t compare to the strength we get from the Lord. There is no one we should count on in our weakness but Christ Himself. Our fear should not overcome us, and we should rejoice even in the trials and let Him know that our faith in Him is stronger than the circumstance.

Even when it seems like the world is against you—when your friends have abandoned you and life is not going the way you would have planned—praise the Lord. If you rely on the Lord during these hard times, He will be your strength and your rock, and He will make you strong (2 Cor. 12:10). No circumstance in life or attack from our enemies can diminish the strength we have in Jesus, our Lord and Savior. We should always stand in our weakness and proclaim our strength in the Lord who sustains us. The key is to focus on Christ and to not depend on our flesh for our strength. Even at our strongest, we can’t stand as strong in our own power as we can in the strength of God (1 Cor. 1:25). His is a supernatural strength that allows us to have hope and peace beyond comprehension in our darkest trials.

In my battle against MS, I struggle to continue walking, strain to grasp objects with my fingers that lack feeling and labor to keep pushing when my body’s fatigue seems too much to handle. Still, I know that my weakness is strength in the Lord. I praise Him daily for the things I am still able to do, for a wife that had the compassion to marry a man with an incurable disease and for the true friends I do have. And, above all, when I look to Jesus, I see His strength in my weakness, and my knees no longer tremble…my heart is filled with hope.