When I am Weak...

Scripture:

Judges 16:1-6 (NASB)

Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her.  When it was told to the Gazites, saying, “Samson has come here,” they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. And they kept silent all night, saying, “Let us wait until the morning light, then we will kill him.”  Now Samson lay until midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts and pulled them up along with the bars; then he put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron.

After this it came about that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.  The lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and see where his great strength lies and how we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him. Then we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”  So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength is and how you may be bound to afflict you.”

Devotional:

Most of us are familiar with Samson and his great strength.  For all appearances he had no weaknesses.  No one could over power him.  This is an image we all want for ourselves.  We want to be strong, physically as well as spiritually.  We can’t be weak in anyway.  If any weakness is shown then you must fall into the wimp category.  The truth is that Samson had a huge weakness that ultimately caused his death. Instead of keeping his focus on God Samson allowed his weakness to control his life. 

Are you allowing your weakness to control your life?  Are you keeping your focus on God?  Nobody wants to admit they have weaknesses.  The fact remains that we all have them.  It is in our weakness that God can really shine in our lives.  It is then that His light shines the brightest through us for the world to see.  How can we keep our focus on God and not allow our weaknesses overcome us?  Three simple things come to mind.  The first is through prayer.  I find when I am tempted to give into my weakness that prayer can shift my attention.  When I pray I refocus on God and He gives me the strength to withstand.  The second is Scripture.  By reading the Bible we learn more about God.  The more we learn of Him the more we love and trust Him.  The more we read the Bible the better our focus is on God.  Think of it as a camera.  The Bible is the camera lens.  When we look through the lens we see images through it.  If the lens is out of focus we cannot see very clearly.  If it is in focus we get a clear sharp image.  The more we read the sharper the focus is.  Finally the third thing is fellowship.  It is through fellowship that we can give strength and accountability to one another.  We can give encouragement to help others.  Those we fellowship with can encourage us giving us strength as well.

Instead of being ashamed and attempt to hide our weaknesses we need to allow God to shine through them.  We need to allow God to work in us giving us strength.  When I am weak then He is strong…