One of my favourite verses in the Bible is tucked away quietly in Isaiah chapter forty verse twenty nine. ‘He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.’
But like many verses we love, we sometimes love them selectively.
We love the part about God giving power. We love the part about increased strength. What we are not so enthusiastic about is the faint part. Or the no might part. Those bits require an uncomfortable admission. They require us to look in the mirror and say I am weak.
And we do not like saying that.
We live in a world that celebrates strength. Be strong. Be independent.
The moment you say I cannot handle this, someone somewhere is ready to hand you a motivational poster and tell you to try harder.
God however seems strangely unimpressed by our muscular spirituality.
He does not say I give power to those who are confident. Or I increase strength to those who believe in themselves. He says I give power to the faint. To those who have no might.
Which explains why many of us rarely experience this divine power. We are too busy managing. Too busy coping. Too busy presenting ourselves as people who have everything under control.
We pray, but secretly we still trust our own plans more than God. We ask God to bless what we have already decided. We ask Him to support our strength rather than replace it.
It is only when life politely, or impolitely, pulls the carpet from under our feet that we suddenly remember this verse.
When the doctor shakes his head.
When the bank balance looks alarming.
When a relationship collapses.
When loneliness becomes loud.
That is when we whisper God I cannot do this.
And something beautiful happens.
Not fireworks. Not necessarily instant solutions. But strength. Quiet strength. Steady strength. The kind that gets you through the day. The kind that makes you put one foot in front of the other. The kind that surprises you because you know very well you did not manufacture it.
But here is where we need to pause and listen carefully.
God does not appreciate being treated like an emergency generator.
He does not like being switched on only during power cuts.
He wants to be the main power source.
The Old Testament makes this painfully clear. Time and again God’s people cry out in desperation. God rescues them. God strengthens them. God gives them victory. Then, once things are stable again, they quietly return to their own strength, their own strategies, their own cleverness.
And God is not amused.
In fact, the Old Testament shows us that God actually punishes those who go back to trusting their own strength after tasting His. Not because He is petty. Not because He enjoys punishment. But because self reliance always leads us back into bondage.
So perhaps the real spiritual maturity is not moving from weakness to strength.
It is moving from pretending strength to embracing weakness.
Admitting daily, quietly, honestly, I cannot live this life on my own power.
Because the moment we admit we are weak, we qualify for something far greater.
We qualify for God’s strength.
And that is a trade worth making every single day…!
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