My weakness

I'm due to have an operation tomorrow :(

I'll be asleep during the procedure (thankfully!) but there will be scalpels in sensitive areas; it's going to be quite painful, and although it's nothing too serious, it's the recovery that makes me most nervous.

And I do feel nervous, but I'm not worried.

Yes, the doctors and surgeons know what they're doing and are very experienced and that puts me more at ease, but actually, my assurance comes from knowing that God is in control.

It's a hard concept to think that God is in control of everything, there are obviously quite a few heavy implications of this truth (the technical word for this is God's sovereignty btw) but most of these are for another day.

Today I want to concentrate on two; worry and weakness.

We do not have to worry about things

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, verse 27.

It's true, what good does worrying do us really? We cannot change the future by worrying about it, that is for sure, the only thing we do is make our present worse. In fact, we might even be making our future worse.

The knowledge that God is in control is a comforting one, it means that I can trust that my circumstance is not an accident, I am meant to be where I am. Actually, as a Christian, I am promised that God is working all things together for my good - because I love him. Even if I have to be tried and tested in the furnace, like silver or gold, I will come out the other side refined, purer than I was before and maybe having learned something through my experience.

We can be weak

Our weakness makes us humble. It reminds us that we are not invincible! And we are not immune from nature. In fact, our weakness goes to show that we are so unlike God in so many ways. We grow older, we get sick, and one day we die. God does not and cannot do any of these things because he is eternally powerful and never, ever changes. We get moments and realisations like this not to put ourselves down, more to view ourselves as we are, and more importantly to see God as he is.

Paul, the great teacher of the first-century church was given incredible insight and knowledge of the Truth of Jesus, it was probably enough to make even the most humble of us proud of superior knowledge. Imagine waking up one day and knowing a subject as much or better than all the experts in the world. That's basically Paul.

To keep him grounded, he explains that he is given "a thorn in the flesh." No one really knows what this truly means but it's pretty clear this is an affliction of some kind.

He writes in his letter to the church in Corinth:

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given 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.

Second letter to the Corinthians 12:7–10

Paul understands that in our weakness, the greatness of God is magnified. To stop us from thinking that we are the centre of the world, we are given various afflictions and trials throughout life. These not only teach us and help us to be disciplined but remind us where all good things come from. Not from ourselves!

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

James 1:17

It could go terribly tomorrow. That is possible, by the fact remains that I am a servant of God, and his plan for me is to do the work that he intends. God has a wonderful plan for me, but Jesus' wonderful plan ended in his crucifixion, Paul's wonderful plan included beatings, imprisonment, shipwreck and eventual beheading. St Stephen's wonderful plan ended in being stoned to death, you get the picture!!

I will boast all the more in my weakness because in it, God is glorified and his greatness is magnified. Walking in step with God brings me immeasurable joy, despite circumstances, and it can do the same for you.

I would really appreciate your prayers nonetheless :)