“He helps us in our weakness.” (Romans 8:26)
I can hear him now: “O Lord, I am so weak. I am so pitiful, Lord. How you can ever use a nothing like me is beyond me, Lord. I’m so ignorant, so fearful, such a sinner.”
I was soon tired of his praying and all I was doing was listening. I wondered how the Lord felt about it.
I think I know.
He takes it in stride. He knew from the beginning who we were. Nothing about us surprises Him.
God’s word says, “It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23).
We keep getting surprised upon discovering it.
Quit groveling in your self-pity, friend. So you have these weaknesses, these areas that throw you for a loop. The Father does not cast you away. In fact, He took all this into His planning from the beginning.
It’s not about you. Keep saying that to yourself until it takes root.
1) He knows our weakness.
Psalm 103:14: “He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.” He is under no illusions about you.
2) He takes our weaknesses in stride. He is not puzzled, does not panic and neither does He cast us away.
“He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness’” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
It’s like He knew this from the beginning and made plans for dealing with our weaknesses.
3) He helps us in our weakness.
“In the same way, the Spirit also helps us in our weakness” (Romans 8:26). “Helps” is synantilambanomai in the Greek: “together,” “with us,” He “gets on the other side” and “lifts with us.”
Imagine a man trying to pull a cross-cut saw all by himself. He cannot do it. Then, a friend comes along and gets on the other end and works in tandem with him. That’s the picture of Romans 8:26.
4) Our weakness gives His strength a place to shine.
“My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9).
5) Therefore, I own my weaknesses. “I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Cor 12:10).
I love the lesson of Exodus 20.
That chapter which gives us the Ten Commandments also provides for an altar. The same chapter. We are given the Lord’s standard for our behavior. But knowing the weaknesses of humans, the Lord also built in a fail-safe plan for dealing with our failures. “An altar of earth you shall make for me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings. … I will come to you and will bless you” (Exodus 20:24).
What a wonderful Lord we serve. A God of grace and of glory.
So, no groveling. No whimpering.
It’s not about you. “Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves. But our sufficiency is of God” (2 Corinthians 3:5).
If that ever sinks in, we will be able to hear you shouting from here!
