Abiding In Weakness

“How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word.”

— Psalms 119:9 NIV

We all face common issues, but we each have a particularly disheartening battle. It is the struggle that leaves us feeling like a worthless failure after every defeat. It is not that we only have one problem, but that we commonly have that one thing we cannot shake that eats away at us.

Overcoming that obstacle can be one of the biggest distractions to the life of holiness. Allow me to explain. The enemy knows the power you have in Christ to overcome all of his lies, but he also knows that if he can discourage you, he can sideline you. Have you ever considered that the enemy’s goal is not to defeat you but rather to immobilize you? Truthfully, he cannot defeat you if you have God on your side, but if he can get us to stand down, he has won as much of the battle that he needs.

I have often thought for myself, "what would my life look like beyond that struggle? What would be possible if I could live beyond the weights of iniquity and the burden of sin?" But even in this internal dialogue, there is a distraction. My focus is on my problem and failure and not on the Lord and the truth of his word.

Scripture says that the path to holiness is in following the word of God. When we look at ourselves we see our inability. We are forced to face our incompetence to be holy on our own strength. If we cannot handle this, we start to slide into the pattern we talked about yesterday, where we live in a false version of reality, blind to our iniquity.

The path of abiding is a path of victory. It is about moving beyond our feelings of failure to trust in the Lord. Believe it or not, Jesus is inviting you to abide in him right now. Whether you are having a great week or a terrible week, God is inviting you to come close to him. In that nearness, he ministers to us and transforms us.

We miss out on the grace to be transformed when we only come to God and open up in the times we feel good. We have the power to choose to withhold our heart from the Lord, and he never forces us to surrender. It can be challenging, but perhaps the toughest lesson of abiding is learning to seek him in our weakness.

We can come to the Lord today with this verse in mind. Instead of feeling shame for our lack of purity, we can feel desperation and clarity. We know that we need to be abiding in God’s word, and we know that he is the only one who can bring healing.

Amen.

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