A few weeks ago, my son said to me, “You make me feel like I can do anything.”

This was a beautiful thing to say to me. It meant the world to me and was incredibly powerful, because my son has a number of health conditions that make life very hard for him. For him to be made to feel like he can do anything is precious.

I realised afterwards that the reason I make him feel like that, is that I give him my strength to do things, in the way I walk life with him.

In a similar way God does that for me too and for all of us. Because of how He walks with us in life we say, “I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13

Not long after my son said this to me, I realised something about God that I hadn’t seen before.

Our Father who is perfect, has something about Him that isn’t perfect, until it touches my life and your life, “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12: 8-10

God is strong, His weakness is stronger than man’s strength (1 Corinthians 1:25), but that strength isn’t perfect, unless it’s used to help, support and benefit those that are weak – us!

This is a window into the heart and nature of God; into what and who He values.

He has “chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.” 1 Corinthians 1:27

Paul stated that “those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty.” 1 Corinthians 12:21-26

God loves the weak and He loves the weak parts of me and you. He loves, values and chooses us in our weakness!

This isn’t because He pities us, or is doing us a favour. He doesn’t build the ‘strong team’ and have a ‘token weak person’. He actively seeks all of us out in our weakness, to choose us in it. He doesn’t choose us in our strength.

Jesus is so strong about this, that He says, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3

Children know their weakness and dependency on their parents. They aren’t trying to be strong and show off their strength independently. What is of value to them is their relationship in the family, their connection with Mum and Dad. They know their own vulnerability, weakness and limitations and they know they are loved, safe and supported.

It can be painful to be in touch with our weakness. All of us would rather function in, and have others see, our shiny strong bits, rather than our weakness and vulnerability.

God spoke the words to me “You are loved, valued and chosen in your weakness”, when I was lying on the sofa, completely weakened through insomnia and sickness. I knew I needed to go into work that afternoon and God was saying to me to go in my weakness. I went into work in the truth and vulnerability of that weakness, allowing God’s strength to be made perfect in me as He did a deep work in my life.

My son’s life is a miracle of God’s strength made perfect in my weakness. God spoke to me through another person, “If I said to you that I wanted to give you more of my glory, but it meant going into more of your weakness, what would you say?” I said yes. He then led me on a path that led me into more of my weakness and finally to the miracle of our son after 18 years of trying for him.

God wants to make His strength perfect in your weakness. Will you allow Him to choose you in your weakness today? Like Paul did, can you say about your own personal weaknesses, “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me”? (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Father, it’s hard to be weak. We all want to be strong and seen as strong. We spend so much energy running away from, compensating for, or trying to change what we see as weak about ourselves. We are attracted to what is strong and not what is weak in life. We don’t want to be hidden, we want to be seen and known. We don’t treat the weakest person as the most indispensable. Father, make us innocent like little children again. Make us dependent on you like children. Help us to see others and love others as you do. Help us to humble ourselves and see ourselves as you see us, as little children, weak and needing your strength, no matter who we are. Thank you for the incredible strength that meets our weakness. Thank you that the impossible becomes possible. Thank you for the miracles that happen and for how your Kingdom can come, when we are weak like children and dependent on you. Amen.