What To Do With An Enemy That’s Trying To Wear You Out + ”Perfect Strength”
Perfect Strength.
I hit a bit of a wall this afternoon, and earlier I told the Lord that I am weary to the core of my soul. No sooner were the words out of my mouth than I heard a gentle whisper: “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Earlier today, Isaiah 40 had popped into my head: “To them of no might, He increases strength.” As I read to the kids tonight, what should happen to grace the pages other than that particular passage from Isaiah 40:
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord, the everlasting God, creator of the wide world, grows neither weary nor faint; no man can fathom His understanding. He gives vigor to the weary and new strength to the exhausted…” (Isaiah 40:28)
This is why I love the Word of God. This is why it is so important to be as full as possible with it. In low moments, God can and will quicken Scripture to your mind, but only those you have previously consumed. It is often in barren, dry, desolate places that His Word is the only supply for sustenance. Time and time again, I have experienced the most simple, basic elemental Scriptures become a lifeline – something to cling to when I “feel” I’ll surely drown in the turbulent seas. I have walked in dense fog, in dark nights, in dry seasons, in heartache and healing, and it has continually been the precious Word of God that kept me. It has done things for me that no other person or institution could ever do!
In spite of “soul weariness,” He has reassured me again that His strength is perfect in weakness. Innate in my soul and every other soul is crippling weakness; debilitating weakness that lays dormant at seasons but rises and rears its ugly head at others. The inborn frailty we are forced to look in the eye at low places has its solution in only ONE PLACE. The frailty of the exhausted human spirit brings along with it a sense of inevitability, a torrent of emotion, and perhaps a sense of hopelessness or even despair. But this is the place, the season, the juncture where His strength meets my weakness. This is a display for divine grace to reveal Its sufficiency. “His strength is made perfect in weakness.” His strength is not perfect until there is a weak place to “show it off.”
God loves to show up, show out, and show off on behalf of those who OWN their weakness. He attends to the cry of the weak, the weary, the exhausted. He stoops low, comes close, and gives His strength to those who will take off any pretense of self-made strength. Too many of us too often just “plow on through,” push past the moments of “soul exhaustion,” without crying out for an exchange of weakness for strength. The low, hopelessly unsightly weariness is a place to be embraced as a “greenhouse” for trust. Those moments are learning experiences that surpass anything that could ever be taught or grasped in a classroom. When I feel and sense His strength being “made perfect” in all the weak, weary, tender places of my soul, I learn something of Him I could learn no other way.
Yes, I am exhausted to the core of my soul, but “to them of no might He increases strength,” and “His strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Thank you for joining me for this journey!
Go grab your Bible and your journal!
I look forward to the power of this habit in your life. This is Unedited.