“..most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me” 2 Corinthians 12:9 NAS95.
The sin of pride lies, kills and destroys because it blinds proud creatures to the truth of God. This was the case with the heavenly creature we call satan. He thought he could usurp God’s place, glory and majesty. Why? Because he was blinded by pride, and in his blindness he then led a failed rebellion with other proud and blinded angelic beings, which resulted in their demise and eternal sentence to hell (Ezekiel 28:2-19). Adam, Eve and all their descendants, with the exception of the Son of Man, have also experienced this spiritual blindness because of their proud hearts (Romans 1:21). Therefore, the human race has been ignorant of God’s truth since the Fall in Eden, and in our proud blindness, we have gotten used to value strength, power, ability, self-reliance, accomplishments, and the like, more than virtues, such as meekness , humility, honesty, chastity.
Contrary to all of that, the Son of God, who is the image of the invisible, Almighty God (Colossians 1:15) did not come putting any value on human strength and power at all. On the contrary, He Himself stated “…that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15 NAS95), thus indicting humanity for its obsession with pride, praise and vainglory. Moreover, the Scriptures say that when He was finally acknowledged as the King of the Jews while coming to the city of Jerusalem days before His crucifixion, He came riding on a donkey, humble and meek, thus fulfilling Old Testament prophecy (Matthew 21:1-7). I am pretty sure that many of His contemporaries, including His disciples, present at this pivotal moment in history thought or expected the Messiah to enter Jerusalem riding on a white, majestic horse with an army behind Him, as they were used to see the Roman generals and important men arrive into cities. However, the true Messiah and Son of God, Jesus, not only to fulfill Scripture but also to destroy this idea of pride, decided to enter His city riding “on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden” (Matthew 21:5 NAS95). Amazing!!!
The Bible indicates that God finds great pleasure in working through weakness. As a matter of fact, in order to show His power and obliterate human pride forever, ” …God has chosen the weak things of the world…” (1 Corinthians 1:27 NAS95). In the great master plan of redemption, the Heavenly Father predetermined that His Son’s glory, power and name would be shown (put on display) through and in weak, broken vessels, lab rats, as it were. I find three examples of this in the New Testament; I know there are many more examples, but would just like to highlight this truth with these three examples only. The first example is found in chapter 9 of the gospel of John; in it we read that the Lord healed a man who was blind since birth; His disciples, accustomed to Jewish beliefs, asked the Lord whose fault was it that the man was born blind. It was a common misconception among the Jewish people and in the world at large to correlate misery, diseases and poverty with sin as being punished by God. The Lord corrected their ignorance by saying that “…neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3 NAS95). This man was predestined, preordained and decreed by God to be created blind and to live many years in this way, so at the right moment, the glory of God and His Son might be put on display to him. This is a hard pill to swallow truth, but it is the truth nonetheless. The second example I find is also in the gospel of John, chapter 11; it is the famous resurrection of Lazarus of Bethany, the brother of Mary and Martha. In verse 4, we read the Lord affirming that “…this sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it” (John 11:4 NAS95). God predestined, preordained and decreed before the foundation of the universe that this Lazarus of Bethany would get sick and died on that day for the sole purpose that many people would see the glory of the Son of God and believe on Him, as the Scriptures accentuate in John 11:45. The last example is the apostle Paul and his famous thorn in the flesh. Paul asserted that this thorn in the flesh, this “messenger of satan” (2 Corinthians 12:7 NAS95) was used by the Lord to make him weak, and that the power of God Almighty was perfected in his weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:9).
What is the significance of these three lives? The main point of what I argue in this post is that my Lord has used and continues to use weak instruments to show His power through them. He despises the proud vessels that rely on their strength, ability and cleverness. The vessels He uses He makes them weak first; He breaks them and brings them down to the dirt, and afterwards He puts His great power, authority and majesty on display through these powerless, defenseless, unable to help themselves, unimportant people, so that all creatures, in heaven and on Earth, may know that power belongs to the Lord, the God who rules over all His creation (Psalm 62:11). Amen! The last question for me is this: am I content with being my Lord’s lab rat?
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