(Un)Qualified by Steven Furtick

(Un)Qualified by Steven Furtick

Author:Steven Furtick [Furtick, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2016-03-02T00:00:00+00:00


WINNING THROUGH WEAKNESS

The idea of winning through weakness probably seems anti-American. Maybe even antibiblical, depending on how you understand certain topics. The idea that our weaknesses could be good for us flies in the face of our self-help, DIY, never-take-no-for-an-answer culture. It almost sounds defeatist or pessimistic.

But it’s not. It’s the opposite.

I’m not advocating giving up. Rather, I’m saying we have to learn to make our weaknesses work for us. If we truly believe that God is in control of our lives, then we will look for the advantage in every attack. We will learn to perceive true strength in what seems to be weakness.

That was Joseph’s conclusion in Genesis 50 after years—and several chapters—of roller-coaster circumstances. If anyone had the right to be jaded by the limitations and losses he had experienced, it was this guy. Having been kidnapped and trafficked into slavery by his own brothers, given up for dead by his father, falsely accused and unfairly jailed by his slave master, and forgotten by his friends, he found himself in a state of complete vulnerability. To the untrained eye, he was a prisoner of weakness.

But eventually, through a series of more fortunate events, he went from a prison to the palace, from total obscurity to near absolute authority.

From weakness to strength.

And when the brothers who betrayed him showed up to beg from him—oh, the irony—Joseph had the humility and maturity to realize what was going on.

He found the strength to do what must have appeared to be a weakness.

He wept with his brothers. He forgave his brothers.

And God used him to save his brothers.

His weakness became strength.

He didn’t allow his strength to become his weakness.

Had Joseph never been in such a vulnerable and weak state, would he have had the compassion, the wisdom, and the opportunity to change world history and restore his family in the process?

Romans 8:28 says it this way: “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

That promise has sustained Jesus’s followers for millenniums, and it is as valid now as the day it was penned. We can expect our weaknesses to be used for God’s glory and our benefit.

On a practical level how can weakness and strength coexist? How can weakness become strength, and how can God’s strength be perfected in our weakness?

I don’t claim to understand every nuance of God’s dealings, so I’m not going to try to analyze and outline every possible way God could turn your weakness into strength. But here are a few thoughts that might help you see your failings in a more positive light.

First of all, if you never hurt, suffered, or struggled, how could you develop the strength you need to sustain the blessings God wants to bring into your life?

God also allows weakness in our lives to create a context that will showcase his strength. Paul said, “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).



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