"For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not." Isaiah 30:15
It is standard Christian teaching that God's strength comes in our weakness (II Corinthians 12:7-10). To rest in confidence of another is surely weakness in the individualistic, self-assertive eyes of the world. American individualistic autonomy, a "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" and "be who you want to be" mentality, has crippled the Western Church. True, such thinking produces strong, self-reliant people; but such strength is merely carnal--not evil, just human. There is a strength that transcends human strength, and those who are strong can never know it. It belongs to those who own their weakness, who have no delusions about their own inability and helplessness.
"And ye would not." How much breaking does God have to do in our lives before we own our weakness? It is not a matter of making us weak, but rather getting us to realize that we are weak. It is not an issue of becoming into something as much as waking to reality. God is not trying to make strong people into limp jellyfish. He is trying to make weak people strong, but He has to snap them into the reality that they are weak and need His strength. There are no strong people; we are all weak and helpless outside of God. This is a fact we must own before God's strength comes to us.
We must surrender the pride that makes us think we stand whilst we lie in the dust. God will pick us up only after we admit we have fallen.
"How can I Think I Stand
When I am of the Dust?
Only Heaven can Stand,
And Heaven must Raise me Up..."
-Jon Vowell
It is standard Christian teaching that God's strength comes in our weakness (II Corinthians 12:7-10). To rest in confidence of another is surely weakness in the individualistic, self-assertive eyes of the world. American individualistic autonomy, a "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" and "be who you want to be" mentality, has crippled the Western Church. True, such thinking produces strong, self-reliant people; but such strength is merely carnal--not evil, just human. There is a strength that transcends human strength, and those who are strong can never know it. It belongs to those who own their weakness, who have no delusions about their own inability and helplessness.
"And ye would not." How much breaking does God have to do in our lives before we own our weakness? It is not a matter of making us weak, but rather getting us to realize that we are weak. It is not an issue of becoming into something as much as waking to reality. God is not trying to make strong people into limp jellyfish. He is trying to make weak people strong, but He has to snap them into the reality that they are weak and need His strength. There are no strong people; we are all weak and helpless outside of God. This is a fact we must own before God's strength comes to us.
We must surrender the pride that makes us think we stand whilst we lie in the dust. God will pick us up only after we admit we have fallen.
"How can I Think I Stand
When I am of the Dust?
Only Heaven can Stand,
And Heaven must Raise me Up..."
-Jon Vowell
No comments:
Post a Comment