The Weak Things of This World

 

If we are willing to let God use us to glorify Himself, we don’t get to choose in what form He does so. Even if we are not willing to let God use us, we don’t get to choose in what form He does so.

Once upon a time, there was a man born blind. In a culture where blindness made every aspect of life a disaster, including being barred from Temple worship, there was no possibility of “looking on the bright side.” To add insult to injury, literally, it was generally assumed by everyone that the blind person or his parents must have committed some grievous hidden sin and deserved this punishment. Yet, God the Father chose that unhappy situation for that particular man, as explained by God the Son, “so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” John 9:3.

Centuries later, a man named Horatio Spafford lost his only son and later all four of his daughters. This was irretrievable loss. No human could say, “It was worth it.” Even so, millions of people, you and I included, have been blessed by his response, “It is Well with My Soul.”

 Many decades later, a young woman was severely injured in a swimming accident and never recovered the ability to move. Nevertheless, Joni has had a lifetime of ministry, giving honor and glory to God, supplying spiritual and physical assistance to thousands and thousands of people.

 About that same time, a teenage boy in Omaha, Nebraska, broke his back in a car accident and has since navigated life from a wheelchair. After he spoke at a church event – invited because his handicap had brought him back to the Lord – a young mother chose new life in Christ. After he spoke at a youth activity – invited because of his disability – a high school girl gave her life to the Lord for missionary service. She has been a career missionary in the Philippines. Because of his joy in the Lord and his kindness, a family was encouraged and brought closer to God. (The daughter from this family married him.) Paul has been honoring God from his wheelchair for 57 years.

 Many people seem to think that God cannot use people who are somehow limited physically or intellectually or who seem to have few talents or social skills as well as He can use people who are stronger, smarter, or more skillful than others. But that’s exactly backwards. The Almighty claims to use the weak to honor Himself.

 Some years back, when we lived in Cleveland, TN, which is home to world headquarters of three different branches of the Church of God, Paul had countless experiences of total strangers telling him God would heal his broken back and he would be able to walk. These were frequently prefaced with the admonishment, “If you will get right with the Lord…” One man gave him a tract with advice about how to be healed physically. There was not a word in it about eternal life. What shortsightedness! Those folks needed him to “get well” in order for them to be spiritually comfortable. They could not recognize that God could use someone in a physically broken condition to encourage people toward God and to glorify Him, even though God has given us examples in Scripture. Because Paul broke his back, a circumstance we would wish to avoid, many people heard the Word of God as Paul spoke to youth groups, children’s clubs, church services and children in a juvenile prison. As with all faithful Christians, one cannot know all the ways God brings glory to Himself as He uses people as He chooses.

 God used a slave child to direct Naaman toward glorifying God. The shortest, youngest son, the least important in a family, became the second king of Israel. An unnamed lame man healed by the word of Peter and John gave glory to God in his strength. Mephibosheth, lamed as a child and never healed, also brought glory to God in his weakness by his loyalty to God’s king. A woman who had been filled with demons glorified Christ before his death. And even Lazarus, who was dead, brought glory to God, by God’s choice.

 The apostle Paul, in his writings to the Corinthians, reminds them of their position at the time God called them – not wise, not influential, not noble. “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him. It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’” I Cor. 1:27-31.

 I might remind all of us not to look down on others because of their weakness or to assume God’s usefulness of them is limited, but that reminder is probably not needed. What may be needed, as it is in my own case, is a reminder not to look down on our own weakness or inadequacy, not to disparage our own usefulness because we have compared ourselves to someone “better.” In any case, He doesn’t want us to boast in our own usefulness or to disparage our own apparent lack of usefulness. God gets to choose, and we don’t always get to see the results of His choices. He asks us to trust him, and our faithfulness to Him brings glory to Him. Rejoice in God’s faithfulness to His own Word!

 --Lynda Shenefield