In Your Powerlessness, God Is Present

In our faith journey, there will be times where we feel powerless. For some of us, even though we believe in God, but we are unable to transcend our emotions, weaknesses, and temptations. Some may truly want to be used by God, but have no strength when it comes to following the Lord. Some may want to restore going to church meetings, but are always bounded by their fatigue from work or family responsibilities. Others may also feel helpless when they look at the plight of their circumstances like they’re disbelieving family members, rebellious children, no progress in their career and more. How many times have we been in such situations? Even though we have a willing heart but we feel powerless to do anything. Actually, if we reflect through, there have been many times where we have been like that in our faith journey. Now, God wants us to know today that it is not that He does not make a way for us, but it is a process that every one of His children will have to experience. His way out is for us to turn back to Him, gaining strength from Him. Let us look at the book of Isaiah today. Isaiah 40:26-31 says “Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Brothers and sisters, our God truly understands the nature of men’s heart to feel powerless from time to time. Therefore, He gave us this beautiful covenant as we have read in the verse. But our heart is powerless not because God is not working, but because we may not have been looking to God and wait upon Him.

When we are disappointed or facing difficulties, Lord wants us to look upon Him and see 3 important things.

He is an all-knowing God.
As the Jews were impatient, forgetful and weak in faith, God told them: “Why do you say your way is hidden from the Lord? Why do you accuse God of disregarding you without testing and approving?” In truth, God know everything. He knows every thing that will happen to His people daily. We may be surrounded by many less than ideal situations. We may feel like letting loose or escaping. And when these thoughts and feelings come by, we may also attribute it to God not helping us, forgetting about us. But no matter what our emotions or responses tells us, God is actually right there and He knows everything. As it is said in Psalm 1:6, “For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.” Therefore, when the Jews experienced their dark days of being imprisoned in Babylon, and when we are experiencing our own restless days of struggles, we need to look to the truth that our path is not hidden from God and God knows our pain, worries and trouble.

He is an almighty God.
Next, God also wants us to see that He is an almighty God. When God said, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom”, He is trying to reflect the tendency of men to surrender to our own fatigue and weakness. When we are tired, we feel like giving up, and we will lose the heart to see that God is never tired and always sustaining us, providing sufficient strength for us that no one can fathom. God is not only an almighty God, He is also a God that can provide us with power we need. God said: “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” Therefore, even though we may feel strengthless and on the brink of falling, but our God is “never tired or weary”.

He is an ever present God.
Finally, God wants us to remember that He is an ever present God. God is always with us and those who wait on the Lord will have renewed strength. Therefore, we must learn to wait on the Lord. How do we wait upon the Lord? To wait upon is to reflect and recall the grace that God has blessed us with, recall the love that God has given us, how He has redeemed you from the past to present, and recall how He has touched your life with His word and promises. Right now, you may not have much faith, but remember that the Lord is faithful to the end. You may forget that God is merciful, but God is an empathizing God. Waiting upon the Lord is also learning about how to quiet ourselves to listen to God’s voice, and by this, I do not mean literally hearing it, but to test and confirm how God have been working in your circumstances. As you are in this spiritual battle, the resistance from the enemy is strong. It constantly wants to take away your strength, take away your heart to seek God. Therefore, you need to get into the habit of seeking our the shepherd’s voice through the word of God, and not through your own ways or head knowledge. If you choose to use your own knowledge to analyse right and wrong, or which methods to use, it will results in more accusations and damage. God wants us to open our hearts to Him, seeking His guidance in the different situations that we may be in and not letting loose of feelings.
If you truly revere the Lord, you will surely receive new strength in the process. And another meaning to “waiting upon the Lord” is to learn how to “soar on wings like eagles”. We have to train ourselves to see that no matter what situations God may put us in, we have to cling onto our true identity and that is the citizen of God’s kingdom. This way, we will not easily indulge in the wrong things. This is because, the biggest difference of God’s people is that we have the promise of God’s kingdom. This is something that even Satan cannot take away. Whether it is for work, studies or taking care of our family, and even if we are still weak in our problems, do not let that prevent you from claiming your identity and value, but use it to learn what is the truth of the gospel in your own fields and roles. Only in this way can we be empowered to move forward and “run but not grow weary, walk and not be faint.”

Brothers and sisters, we must know that behind our powerlessness, the almighty and ever present God is with you. So, let us continue to look to the Lord and learn to have a heart that waits upon him to transcend our current struggles. God bless.