Some persons, due to sickness or advancing age, are weak, and to match them up with the strong would be unfair competition -- like sending a Little League team against major leaguers. It would be, to use an expression from Nathaniel Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables, "like flinging a porcelain vase, with already a crack in it, against a granite column."
The Apostle Paul, a man of great energy and zeal, knew about weakness. Given a thorn in the flesh (perhaps a sickness), he was kept from doing what he wanted to do. Three times he prayed for the removal, but this was the answer he received from God: "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness." The result was that a power much greater than Paul's -- the power of Christ -- took over in his life.
Then Paul states a truth far superior to Murphy's law or the Peter principle: "When I am weak, then I am strong." This was so because, in weakness, Paul relied on Christ; Paul plugged into a higher power. God knows our strengths and weaknesses. He knows that we are sometimes like frail porcelain vases and that we would not survive if flung against granite columns. So He prevents it. He knows what our capacity is, just as the capacity of a bridge is known, and keeps us from being overloaded.
The Christ in our lives is both mighty and merciful, bidding all who labor and are heavy laden to come to Him. In Him we have a friend, all our sins and grieds to beat. When He traveled the Calvary road that led to a cross, He carried our load. Having done that, He will also help us take up and carry our smaller crosses.
If you have a weakness that you are taking for granted, pray that God make make His grace powerful amid your weakness.
Love you all in Christ,
Matt
