HIS STRENGTH FOR OUR WEAKNESS (Part 1)

1.      THE SITUATION THEY FACED (No Place to Go – A Great Dilemma)

     When Paul was writing the Corinthians about this new discovery – His strength for our weakness – he says: “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor. 12:9). Israel found itself in a particularly weakened position. Yet it would have been difficult to convince Israel that their circumstance was one in which to glory. With the Red Sea in front of them and Pharaohs armies descending, Israel had no place to go.

     Let me ask you:

·        Did you ever face a situation in which you did not know what to do next or you did not know where to turn?

·        Did it seem you had no place to go?

Such was the situation for Israel then (and my I add now with the world situation in the Middle East). She was facing a great dilemma with no place to go. It could be said that her alternatives were limited. She could not go forward. The Red Sea was in front of her. She could not retreat because Pharaohs chariots (the Scripture says there were 600) bearing down upon her. She could not make a lateral move left or right because great mountains were on both sides.

      Another question:

·        Did you ever feel life had taken away your choices?

·        Did you ever feel that the only options that you had were bad options?

      It must have seemed so for Israel.

     And yet there was something else that contributed to Israel’s weakness. She had expended her energies. She had marched all night long and now she was tired. I think many people are tired today. Our world lives in a very rushed place. The stresses and strains of expended energies leave us like Israel in the midst of a great dilemma with no place to go and little energy left to fight.

     Yet Israel, between Pharaohs chariots and the Red Sea waters, was weak for anotherreason. She had displaced her affections. She wasn’t home anymore. She had left her home in Egypt. Even if it wasn’t the kind of home that she had journeyed into the desert with her home on her back. She was homeless. Her affections had been displaced. We hear much about homelessness today. Perhaps there is no situation that is more anxiety producing or more energy sapping than that of homelessness.

     Israel found herself facing a great weakness brought about by a great dilemma – no place to go.

     Be sure to check the blog posting in a couple of days for 2d Installment – (THE TEMPTATION

     WITH WHICH THEY FLIRTED (No Strength Left to Fight – A Great Danger).

     Remember, you gain victory by finding His Strength for your Weakness.

HIS STRENGTH FOR OUR WEAKNESS (Introduction)

The Scriptures are full of Irony. Irony is an outcome of events that is contrary to what might have been expected. Imagine the irony in Pharaohs decree to kill the male Hebrew children. He began to fear that Israel’s rapid multiplying would result in their rising up against Egypt. Yet his daughter drew Moses from the bulrush and raised him in the place of Egypt. It is an irony that the one Pharaoh feared was living in his place and eating at his table. Hear the irony of Solomon’s words when he writes: “There is that makes himself rich yet hath nothing; there is that makes him=self poor yet hath great riches” (Proverbs 13:7).

      And there is irony in the New Testament as well. We hear irony in Jesus’ words when He tells the disciples: “Whosoever would be great among you, let him be your minister” (Matt. 20:26), or “The last shall be first and the first last” (Matt. 20:16).

     The Apostle Paul experienced a great irony in his own life. He wrote in detail about it to the Corinthians. He was describing his familiar “thorn in the flesh” that he prayed three times to be delivered from when he made a great discovery. “When I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Cor. 12:10). Paul discovered that when he was at his weakest the power of God was at its strongest in his own life. Let me ask you:

·        Do you feel weak today?

·        Are you wrestling against difficulties that you have no resources to overcome?

The message for us is that times of weakness are a blessing if they place us in the atmosphere of experiencing the strength and power of God.

     His strength for our weakness is a truth that weaves its way throughout the Scriptures. It is illustrated clearly when Israel had her back to the Red Sea and Pharaohs chariots were rushing in upon her. 

  

     Over the next few days this message (HIS STRENGTH FOR OUR WEAKNESS) will be presented in separate blog postings illustrating three (3) major points:

1.      THE SITUATION THEY FACED (No Place to Go – A Great Dilemma)

2.      THE TEMPTATION WITH WHICH THEY FLIRTED (No Strength Left to Fight – A Great Danger)

3.      THEIR GREAT DISCOVERY (No Task is Too Great for God – His strength for Our Weakness)

     Be sure to check out the next few blog postings and gain victory by finding His Strength for your Weakness.

Give Thanks In All Things

In Romans 8:28 the Word of God says; “And we know that all things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”

The startling command of 1 Thessalonians 5:18 bewilders even committed believers at times: The verse says: “In everything give thanks for this is the Will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

How do we give thanks in times of catastrophe? For what are we grateful when disaster strikes?

As foreign as it may seem, we give thanks to God in all things because His sovereign, loving power is able to weave our grief, sorrow, and pain into the fabric of His eternal plan for our lives. God does not cause evil, and neither is He conquered by it.

His purpose for us cannot be thwarted by our problems. For that, we can give thanks in the midst of our adversity.

Listen to this Evangelist: The sovereignty of God is the one impregnable rock to which the suffering human heart must cling. The circumstances surrounding our lives are no accident: they may be the work of evil, but that evil is held firmly within the mighty hand of our sovereign God.

Listen: All evil is subject to Him, and evil cannot touch His children unless He permits it. God is the Lord of human history and of the personal history of every member of His redeemed family.