Blessed are We in Our Littleness, For He is Our Strength

This summer I’ve been blessed to be a part of a college fellowship and bible study group where we’ve been focusing on the Beatitudes in Matthew 5. We’ve come to sum up the Beatitudes as, “Blessed are the humble” and lately majority of my spiritual musings have been focusing on just that.

Recently we had a reading from Corinthians in which Saint Paul asked the Lord to relieve him of a great suffering. The Lord explained that in Paul’s weakness the Lord can use him perfectly and therefore Paul accepted his suffering joyfully saying, “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). That reading pretty much changed my life. It made me think about all the times where I feel incapable of succeeding in whatever challenge lies before me. It made me recall how much of a failure I felt by the end of the semester this past spring. I came to a peaceful conclusion: I am so blessed. I am so blessed to be weak and constantly striving to be closer to my God and to see His mighty hand in my life.

I find it hard to explain this concept without sounding content in my weakness to the point of disregarding the importance for perseverance in spiritual growth. It is extremely crucial that we come to terms with our smallness in order to grow. We must be satisfied with how God has created us and acknowledge the gifts He has blessed us with in order to conquer evil in the world and draw closer to Him along with our brothers and sisters. Weakness and courage are not opposites, yet abide together in a virtue. This is how I define “meek,” I suppose. If we are humble and recognize that we are so small and need God’s loving assistance, than we will grow and be strong because He is our strength. If not, well, you’re going to fall...hard.

I’ve found it that when we deny our weaknesses rather than come to terms with them and attempt to be stronger than we are than we burn out. For example if I tell myself that I am strong enough to evangelize to my brother who has fallen away form the church I will most likely fail. If I seek the Lord’s guidance, the Lord will help me to understand that it is not words which my brother needs, but subtle acts of kindness. Also the Lord knows my fears and how hard it is for me to face my brother in conversation of any kind – If I attempted to approach my brother on aspects of religion I would crumble under my weakness and probably do worse for my brother’s salvation than do good. However, there are also times when I have to abandon my fears because God uses my weakness to reach others. 

I find it incredible to witness in my own life how much the Lord uses me for His work and makes me strong. Throughout my testimony I was petrified and didn’t know if I’d ever be able to love myself – But God did it. I didn’t know I would be good at leading God’s daughter’s in their confirmation retreat last spring – But God used my story and my gifts to reach them and it turned out to be a beautiful weekend. And every time I write on this website I just pray that the Lord is using me for His glory and I fear that I am not enough – but every time I get so much affirmation and am blessed with encouraging feedback.

I really look up to Moses. He was terrified to lead God’s people to the promise land and he slipped up sometimes too. He told God that he wasn’t equipped to lead His people but God made Moses perfectly. Perfect enough to lead the people to the promise land. God used Moses despite his speech impediment and his simpleness to bring His law to us and to fulfill His promise to save the people. The Lord uses us in our weaknesses too. We might seem weak, we might be so small and nothing in comparison the greatness of the whole world but we aren’t. We are so valuable and so precious. God can accomplish great things in this world through us and He does.

Allow the Lord to use you. Surrender your weakness to Him and let Him take you on one crazy adventure – I guarantee, when you get to the pearly gates God will await you and say, “Well done my good and faithful servant” and “the kingdom of Heaven shall be yours.”

Jesus, I TRUST in You.

Food for thought: “The ability to remain untouched by evil is not acquired all at once. It is the fruit of a long process of self-conquest and grace that makes us grow in the theological virtues. It is an aspect of spiritual maturity, more a gift from God than the result of our efforts.” – Interior Freedom by Jacques Philippe