“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
(2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
It is sad as believers how quickly we lose faith, just like the apostle Peter when he focused on the storm instead of Christ. He began to sink.
My tendency is to sink inside when little waves ripple in my life. I feel inadequate, defeated. I want to choose courage, choose Christ, and yet my will seems to shut down and hide in a little hole like a timid mouse.
Satan loves to highlight our weaknesses to us, not for the purpose of restoring but of tearing down. "Well, this isn't going to get better," he is quick to whisper in my ear. "Better just cozy up now and wait for the inevitable."
"What inevitable?" you may ask. It is a good question. In reality, likely nothing. But, according to my depressive visitor encouraged along by Satan's persistent caresses, the world will end with me sitting in a corner defeated and alone.
You cannot solely lean on your ability to reason with your mind at these moments. I do not mean you shouldn't fight your mind with truth--absolutely not. But, you cannot expect human reasoning alone to conquer human emotions. It is far better to turn to God's Word, which never changes, unlike human reasoning and human emotions.
God's Word says in 2 Corinthians 12 that our weaknesses can be avenues of God's strength in our lives. We are actually strongest when we are humanly weakest. God's Word also promises us in Deuteronomy 31:6 that He will never leave us. It doesn't matter how weak we feel. He will never forsake us.
It just hit me the other day during a bible study that Christ was forsaken on the cross so I would never know what it is like to actually feel forsaken. When Jesus cried out to God, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? (My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?)," He was experiencing true forsakenness. God turned His face away from His only Son so that He would never have to do that to me.
And, yet, despite this truth, I find myself sinking in the mire of my emotions because of the ripple of the waves in my life. Why? I know the truth; I believe the truth. But, like Peter, I am a sinner. I fail. I fall. I stumble. Yet, Christ stretched out His hand and pulled Peter up.
It is such a gift that God does the same with us in the daily journey of walking with Him. Keep running the race, trusting that He will complete the work He has started in you (Philippians 1:6).
Please help me, Lord, to cling to Your promises and not my own strength. Help me to trust Your Word above my thoughts and circumstances. Give me the strength to finish this walk of faith trusting in Your character, which is good, righteous, and true.
