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 Spurgeon's Counsel
OUR WEAKNESS - HIS STRENGTH
"For my strength is made
perfect in weakness." 2
Corinthians 12:9
A primary qualification for serving God
with any amount of success, and for doing God's work well and triumphantly, is a
sense of our own weakness. When God's warrior marches forth to battle, strong in
his own might, when he boasts, "I know that I shall conquer, my own right
arm and my conquering sword shall get unto me the victory," defeat is not
far distant.
God will not go forth with that man who
marches in his own strength. He who reckoneth on victory thus has reckoned
wrongly, for "it is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the
Lord of hosts." They who go forth to fight, boasting of their prowess,
shall return with their gay banners trailed in the dust, and their armour
stained with disgrace.
Those who serve God must serve Him in
His own way, and in His strength, or He will never accept their service. That
which man doth, unaided by divine strength, God can never own. The mere fruits
of the earth He casteth away; He will only reap that corn, the seed of which was
sown from heaven, watered by grace, and ripened by the sun of divine love.
God will empty out all that thou hast
before He will put His own into thee; He will first clean out thy granaries
before He will fill them with the finest of the wheat. The river of God is full
of water; but not one drop of it flows from earthly springs. God will have no
strength used in His battles but the strength which He Himself imparts.
Are you mourning over your own
weakness? Take courage, for there must be a consciousness of weakness before the
Lord will give thee victory. Your emptiness is but the preparation for your
being filled, and your casting down is but the making ready for your lifting up.
"When I am weak then am I strong, Grace is my shield and Christ my
song."
Charles Haddon
Spurgeon
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