Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - Dealing with Down Days
As I was searching in my jumbled thoughts to find a reason for the down feelings, God brought to my mind a passage from 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.
To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
From this passage God showed me why He had allowed these down days in my life. First, I needed to be reminded of the fact that I am not strong, I am weak. The Apostle Paul had a physical weakness that was getting him down, and I'm sure Paul thought that he could serve the Lord much better without that physical handicap, and he begged God to remove it. But the Lord said no to that request because He wanted Paul to learn how truly weak he was on his own.
As I pondered the implications of that, I realized that I needed to be reminded of my own weakness. I know that one of my tendencies is to be proud and to become very self-sufficient–or at least to think I'm self-sufficient.
I finally recognized that this down period was being used by God to help me see my own weakness. As soon as I saw that, I could honestly thank God for the down period. I knew that I needed to feel my own weakness, my own insufficiency–and God was graciously allowing me to do that. God's power is made perfect in weakness.
So, if you're recently experiencing a down period, a good place to start is simply to admit to God how weak you are, and ask Him to perfect His strength in your weakness. He's promised to do that, so take Him up on His offer.
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