weakness

"'But Lord,' Gideon asked, 'how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.'"  (Judges 6:15) 

Once when he was to preach at the University of Sydney in Australia, evangelist and Pastor John Stott lost his voice. He says: "What can you do with a missionary who has no voice? We had come to the last night of the evangelistic campaign. The students had booked the big university hall. A group of students gathered around me, and I asked them to pray as Paul did, that this thorn in the flesh might be taken from me. But we went on to pray that if it pleased God to keep me in weakness, I would rejoice in my infirmities in order that the power of Christ might rest upon me.

As it turned out, I had to get within one inch of the microphone just to croak the gospel. I was unable to use any inflection of voice to express my personality. It was just a croak in a monotone, and all the time we were crying to God that his power would be demonstrated in human weakness.  Well, I can honestly say that there was a far greater response that night than any other night. I've been back to Australia ten times now, and on every occasion somebody has come up to me and said, 'Do you remember that night when you lost your voice? I was converted that night.'"

The Lord loves us when we are weak, because it is then that He can work through us. Today in prayer, give thanks to the Lord that when we are weak He is strong.

"God had looked for a man weak enough, and He found me." - Hudson Taylor

"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."  (2 Corinthians 12:9)

-peter kennedy