THE STRENGTH OF WEAKNESS

 

2_corinthians_12_9

So [Gideon] said to [the Lord], “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”          Judges 6:15

Recommended Reading: 2 CORINTHIANS 12:7-10  “7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

COMMENTS:  There are many mysteries in scripture about God.  Today we will discuss one of them noted above.   Why does God choose to use the most unlikely people to do His Work, especially work that includes miracles both in work done and especially miracles in results of that work?   Yet, this seems to be what God enjoys and prefers doing.  He picked Moses, who had difficulty talking and lacked confidence, to lead the multitude of Israelites out of Egypt.  He picked David, the youngest and least gifted to be king of Israel.  He picked Joseph to save Israel and Egypt from starvation.  He picked Daniel, a boy lacking physical strength and experience and breeding to bring God’s message to captive Israel and to the greatest empire and king of his day.  But also, to write down revelation that is even yet foretelling a future time.  Why did He pick Mary, a young poor girl, to be His earthly mother? What about all the disciples, especially Peter? Then there is Saul who would become Paul.  What did they have in common beyond just being unlikely?  What did God see in them that others didn’t?   That is the mystery, but in hindsight we can notice a few key qualities:

  1. God saw every one of them for what they would become with His help. 
  2. God knew each before they were conceived and planted a purpose and unique calling.
  3. God wanted servants who would need to seek His help and guidance because of little ability to solve problems on their own. God selected and prepared each to give Him their full attention and obedience.  GOD PICKED SERVANTS HE KNEW WOULD UNDERSTAND THEIR MISSION AND BE FAITHFUL. 
  4. He also picked servants we could relate to and gain a clear example of transforming influence God has when we encounter and have relationship with Him.
  5. But best of all, HE PICKED PEOPLE HE LOVES AND ENJOYS BEING WITH, SO HE ENJOYS WORKING WITH AND THROUGH THEM!

Ok, so how do we unpack this and what do we do with such realization? 

  1. We must both look at the transformed lives of each, at the message they gave, and at the impact that message had and continues to have on those who receive it.
  2. We must explore what their response was when God called them. I believe the most insightful response, but common response, came from Mary recorded for us in Luke 1:46-55.  Mary’s response showed a deep love and trust in God and a sincere and personal relationship in God.  Not everyone had her depth of trust at first but all grew to that depth of trust over time.
  3. Christ’s mission was to give everyone the same opportunity Joseph and Daniel and David had. He showed and gives us opportunity to humble ourselves and seek Him open ourselves to receive His Transforming Spirit too.  “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”  II Corinthians 12:9  

Let’s explore what such revelation tells us. 

  1. God’s loves and desires to fellowship with and transform everyone, including you and me, just as much as He did David and Saul and Daniel and Mary.
  2. Christ’s redemptive sacrifice on the Cross, His triumphant Resurrection, and His abiding Holy Spirit provides an opportunity for everyone that He gave Believers identified in scripture and millions of other believers not identified in scripture both during bible times and the centuries since/
  3. THAT IS THE GOOD NEWS OF EASTER THAT WAS COMPLETED AT PENTECOST WITH THE FIRST FILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN AND THROUGH THE DISCIPLES TO THOSE PRESENT.

It is hard for us to consider, let alone embrace, the concept of God wanting to nor willing to transform you and me into a Daniel or a Mary or a Paul or a Billy Graham.  Most of us really don’t want to become one of them in conduct or mission.

But let’s at someone equally transformed but much closer to us.  What about that godly grandmother or Sunday school teacher or pastor that had a huge impact on us.   Those of us so blessed and had parents so transformed are blessed with examples leaving a legacy and influence that continues to impact and transform and motivate us to draw closer to Christ and to His Holy Spirit.  I dare say every example both made famous in scripture and those not all had such influences in additional to God’s direction influence too.

Such realization and insight are nudging me to draw closer to Him and love Him more, but also to re-evaluate and deepen my commitment to Him too.  I hope and pray it will you too.  We have no idea what God has in mind for you and me if we surrender to His guiding hand.  He may prepare us to touch and reach only one.  One who may be called to reach only one too and so on.  If that is all, over the next 4 generations, 4 more would have lives eternally changed.  If we consider that change impacting their families than number could be 16- hundreds.   But more likely God is calling us to minister to and impact dozens or even hundreds of others over our lifetime, resulting in thousands impacted over the next 4 generations.

Stop and think of the compounded impact and legacy of a godly grandparent realized on their family now and families of those who knew them.  That is our calling and mission.  Today we are in a season between Easter and Pentecost.  A good time of reflection and prayer seeking His Council and Direction.   A time, like it was for the disciples, to wait and seek and preparing for His Holy Spirit to indwell and guide and prepare.  Only God knows what great good will result if we are ready to receive.  AMEN!                                                     

“Real true faith is man’s weakness leaning on God’s strength. “D. L. Moody    

 

If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 111 blog posts i have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.

You may also access my facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily.  My facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951

My hope and prayer is, they will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.

Published by donsdevotions

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Don McDaniel - Who am I? Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever. Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me. I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private. However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool. Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry. He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 . I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine. I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward. Don & Arlene McDaniel In His Service, Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951 If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ ) You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.

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