Strength in Our Weakness

“Each time He said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  — 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

 

For the last month, I have been researching the backgrounds of some of my favorite hymns. Of all that I have learned, the chief lesson has been that the overwhelming majority of these precious songs of the faith were born out of suffering and hardship.

Those who have penned these great messages of faith experienced great trials and sufferings that prepared them for the specific message they shared. Joy sprouts from the cultivated soil of heartbreak. One such example can be found in the life of George Matheson.

George Matheson was only a teenager when he learned that his poor eyesight was deteriorating further. Not to be denied, he continued straightway with his plans to enroll in Glasgow University, and his determination led to his graduating at age nineteen.

But as he pursued graduate studies for Christian ministry he became totally blind. His sisters joined ranks beside him, learning Greek and Hebrew to assist him in his studies, and he pressed faithfully on. His spirit colapsed, however, when his fianc’ee, unwilling to be married to a blind man, broke their engagement and returned his ring.

George never married, and the pain of that rejection never totally left him. Years later, his sister came to him, announcing her engagement. He rejoiced with her, but his mind went back to his own heartache. He consoled himself in thinking of God’s love which is never limited, never conditional, never withdrawn, and never uncertain. Out of this experience it is said that he wrote the hymn, O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go, on June 6, 1882.

George Matheson became a powerful and popular preacher pastoring in the Scottish village of Innellan. Despite his flourishing ministry, there was one winter evening when the Sunday night crowd was miserably small. George had worked hard on his sermon, but the empty chairs nearly defeated him. Nevertheless he did his best, not knowing that in the congregation was a visitor for the large St. Bernard’s Church in Edinburgh, which was seeking a pastor. As a result, in 1886, he was called to St. Bernard’s where he became one of Scotland’s favorite preachers.

“Make every occasion a great occasion,” Matheson later said. “You can never tell when somebody may be taking your measure for a larger place.” What a word of wisdom and counsel for us!

Through our heartbreaks and setbacks, God may be measuring us for a larger position! Jesus himself expressed this truth when he said, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities…(Matthew 25:23).”

We must learn to value our weaknesses as opportunities to reveal the strength and glory of God through us.

Opportunity for Joy

“Dear brothers, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.  –  James 1:2-4

 

Jacques Plante was a legendary goalkeeper in the National Hockey League. He once described being a goalie like this: “Imagine sitting at your desk. You make a mistake. A red light goes on behind you, a siren starts sounding and 18,000 people are yelling at you. That’s what it’s like to be a goaltender.”

 

Plante was agruably the most influential goaltender ever to play. He is credited with a number of innovations that are standard aspects of the game today. He was the first player to wear a mask on a regular basis. It started as a habit during practice, but it became part of  his standard equipment. He was criticized regularly for doing so, but now every goalie in the league wears a mask.

 

He was the first goalie to come out of the goal to challenge shooters and to skate to the corner to retreive the puck for his defensemen. His exploits were successful enough that he won the Vezina Trophy–given to the best goalkeeper in the NHL–six times, including five seasons in a row.

 

The most interesting part of the story, however, is that Plante did not begin playing hockey as a goalie. He started out as a defenseman, but he suffered with asthma and was not able to keep up with the pace of skating that defense required. Because he loved the game, he switched to goalie by the age of fifteen, and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Sometimes the opportunity for joy means overcoming obstacles and make adjustments. When we have the right perspective, our trials can lead us to a place where we discover skills, talents, and abilities we may never have thought we possessed.

 

When trials come, it is our cue that God is working in our life–not to our detriment, but to our good. The endurance that He works in our lives becomes our opportunity for joy and the platform for demonstrating His glory. Opportunity can become our wonder, our worship and our witness to a lost world that Jesus is Lord!

Where is the Glory?

 

“She named the child Ichabod–”Where is the glory?”–murmuring, ‘Israel’s glory is gone.’ She named him this because the Ark of God had been captured and because her husband and her father-in-law were dead. Then she said, ‘The glory has departed from Israel, for the Ark of God has been captured.’”  –  1 Samuel 4:21-22

 

During the great Welsh Revival of 1904, the churches and chapels of Wales were crowded with worshippers seeking to “get right with God.” Miners covered with coal dust went straight from the pits to the church, and the valleys rang with the grand sound of Welsh voices singing the great hymns of the faith.

 

An American tourist who was familiar with the stories of the revival was anxious to visit the towns and villages where the Spirit of God had moved. He found an old Welshman who took him around to some of the chapels and churches, where he reminisced about the great preaching and singing of bygone days. But then, with a tremor in his voice, he said, “The glory has departed. You could write across the front of the church in great big letters the word ‘Kickerbocker.” Unfortunately, the word he meant was “Ichabod.”

 

But give the old Welshman some credit. Even if he was a little confused, at least he knew about a Bible story that most people have not encountered! It is the story of what happened when a messenger brought word back to Shiloh of Israel’s defeat in battle and the capture of the ark.

 

When poor old Eli–the fat, blind priest–heard about the ark and the deaths of his sons (he seemed more concerned about the former than the latter), he fell off the bench, broke his neck, and died. Eli’s daughter-in-law, wife of Phinehas, the philandering priest, gave premature birth to a son and died in childbirth. But before she died, she murmured, “Israel’s glory is gone,” and she named her son “Ichabod,” which means, “Where is the glory?” (1 Samuel 4:21)

 

The Middle East is littered with the magnificent ruins of formerly great cities whose glory has long departed. Many of those cities are the ancient sites of first-and-second-century churches that are now nowhere to be seen. Now there is no church, no Christian witness. The glory is gone.

 

In the great cathedrals of Europe, where vast crowds once gathered for worship, now only tourists with cameras flood the ancient aisles, clambering unthinkingly and unknowingly over the graves of the great men and women of God who once stood tall and strong for the Lord in that place. The glory has gone.

 

The church is never more than one generation away from extinction. In some places it happens through violent persecution. In others, through slow moral erosion. That erosion takes place in the hearts of individuals who, like Hopni and Phinehas, go through religious motions with hearts estranged from God. When that happens en masse, Ichabod! The glory departs.