God wants Christians to be weak people. Not only does God want us to be weak, according to Paul Washer He is creating weakness in our lives, and for good reason. This goes against the narratives one often sees in Christian self-help books.
Moreover, God often uses weak people and weaker armies to achieve His plans. The Bible has many examples. Here are two:
David
David was a pipsqueak compared to King Saul who, in turn, was overshadowed by the giant Goliath. Yet God used him mightily to send a message to David, Saul, Israel and the Philistines. David later wrote,
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the defense of my life; whom shall I dread? Psalm 27:1
Gideon’s Army
Then there’s the story of Gideon’s shrinking army of 300 men (Judges 7:1-24). God preferred to use a small army to deliver His people against the Midianites. Commenting on this incident Spurgeon makes a distinction between being “faint” and “faint-hearted”,
THESE three hundred men, though faint, were not faint-hearted. If they had been cowards, they would have left Gideon when he made the proclamation, “Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead.”
J. I. Packer
In a short video J. I. Packer humbly talks about weakness in his life and why it was good. At one point he cites the following passage,
And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me– to keep me from exalting myself! 2 Cor 12:7
As John Piper rightly noted in “Providence,” it is God who equips us to do His will. God works in us so that we do what He wills. In this way, it is God who is exulted and not us that we should become prideful.
Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Heb 13:20-21
Finally, Paul Washer talks about weakness in the video below.
Maranatha!
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