The Gift of Weakness

Do you ever think of weakness as a gift? 

I don’t know about you, but this question rattles me. 

I don’t know about you, but this question rattles me.  After all, we live in a culture that highly prizes independence and self-sufficiency.  We even have iconic images to inspire us, like the American cowboy.  They invoke in us a sense of strength, independence, self-reliance, and pride.  Whether we are aware of it or not, our Western psyche revolves around this self-forged, self-proclaimed autonomy.

What’s thought-provoking, however, is how this thinking interacts with our relationship with God, especially His desire for us to be dependent on Him.  Dependence on God helps us refrain from getting ahead of Him and what He’s doing in our lives.  It frees us from shame.  Self-sufficiency.  Independence.  And, instead, produces His peace in us.  Even trust in Him. 

Yet, most of us don’t like it!  Dependence can feel uncomfortable.  Vulnerable. Even to the point of weakness, flying right in the face of our cultural narrative. 

Sixteen hundred years ago an Egyptian monk named John Cassian turned Scripture into a prayer of dependence. It's still prayed daily by millions: Please, God, rescue me! Come quickly, Lord, and help me (see Psalm 70:1).

By adding a bit of another psalm to it, consider this expanded version:  Please, God, rescue me! Come quickly, Lord, and help me . . . I give my life to you. I trust You. I put my hope in you (see Psalm 70:1, Psalm 25:1-2,21).

Perhaps, write this prayer on a sticky note and attach it to your computer or the refrigerator. Each day, this month, pray it out loud to God, expressing each of  your thoughts and feelings to Him.