“Stewards of Weakness”
“I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling… I relied on the power of the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:3)
What is your Life Story? Our life stories can make us feel disqualified, broken, and weak. The Bible tells us that Jesus uses the weak to shame the strong, and the foolish to shame the wise. When we are at our weakest, that’s the very place we get to tap into the strength of God.
Do you think that God, in his providence, gives us our weaknesses just as he gives us our strengths? In God’s economy, where the return on investment He most values is “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6), weaknesses become assets — we can even call them talents — to be stewarded, to be invested. Sometimes I think we get overwhelmed by our weaknesses, and we struggle to turn them into a strength.
If this is the case, the next question to be asked is “How well are you investing the weaknesses you’ve been given?” It doesn’t make sense, does it? To invest our liabilities and not our assets. Most of us try to eliminate or minimize or even cover up liabilities. It’s easy for us to see our strengths as assets. But most of us naturally consider our weaknesses as liabilities — deficiencies to minimize or cover up. But if we’re to value weaknesses as assets, we need to see clearly where Scripture teaches this. The apostle Paul provides us with the clearest theology of the priceless value of weakness. He helps us understand the indispensable role that weakness plays in strengthening our faith and witness.
Who dares embrace this vital ministry as a steward of weakness? Jon Bloom, in Desiring God, states, “Weaknesses manifest God’s power in us in ways our strengths don’t.” What trials has God brought you through so that you may use your experience to help others? You may have experienced horrific wounds but you survived. What action do you need to take “safely, legally, ethically” to feel safe again? What horrific hurt do you need to let go of today in order to make room for new joy and happiness? Go to God in your weakness and allow the Spirit to empower you to release “the hurts and hurters.” God can turn your “wildest nightmares” into the ability to share with total strangers about the most painful experiences of your life.
Wounded healers become amazing stewards of weakness. Walk in childlike dependency on God. Give up your “God-can’t-possibly-use-me” thinking. Allow God to work in you and through you. The life experiences He has brought you through can be used to help others. Dr. Sandra D. Wilson, in Hurt People, Hurt People, suggests that we “Feel the pain, then forgive the pain. Now focus on the person you have become because of what you went through. Tulsi Van De Graaff maintains, “You can be delivered from a broken or crushed spirit, even ‘the signs of wounding’ you cannot see.” How, you ask? Allow the Lord to love you back to life. Once He has, weakness becomes the steward’s trust.
