If you read much of what I write, there is one word you’ll often hear: weakness. Why? Let me offer a few reasons that may help your soul—and your leadership—today.
Starting Weak
Weakness means inadequacy. And the revelation of our inadequacy begins at conversion. Every one of us eventually realizes that our own effort and energy cannot save us. We stand before God incapable of generating either the desire or the righteousness that can reconcile us to him.
“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor. 1:27).
Weakness—the revelation of our impotence and inadequacy—is a condition of conversion. We need the adequacy of Another: Jesus Christ.
Feeling Strong
Then the appointment to leadership comes, and something happens. Our gifts are discovered. Roles emerge that fit our talents. Our service is celebrated. Respect and credibility follow. Slowly, weakness recedes into the background. We feel able and appear adequate.
The trap is set. Soon we begin aligning our language and convictions with the appearance of strength. We must now look strong. It becomes important that people see us at our best.
But God loves us too much to indulge our delusions. He surprises us with suffering. We encounter the humiliating shock of betrayal. Our financial position declines. Relationships unravel. We fail spectacularly. Something goes sideways, and suddenly we are no longer the respected leader but the subject of suspicion.
Whether the situation was self-inflicted or the result of unjust suffering, there is often one important effect: weakness returns and takes up residence again. Inadequacy reappears—and this time, it doesn’t ask permission.
Made Weak Again
Looking back over the past fifteen years of ministry, I could never have imagined the depth of some problems or the pain I would face. I’ve experienced loss, defections, affliction, and heartbreak. Yet I can now see more clearly that all of it has been a conspiracy of grace.
It’s the same for you.
The suffering you are going through right now is happening for 25,000 reasons, most of which you will never understand in this life. But one reason God repeatedly permits weakness is to remind us that our power is not found in our strength but in dependence upon him.
God will not allow your story to be written in a way that makes you the hero. He loves us enough to remove our boasting points and return us to inadequate dependence upon him. “God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Cor. 1:28–29).
It helps me to remember that although I don’t know most of the reasons behind painful seasons, I do know some central ones. God uses them to level my self-sufficiency and silence my boasting. Suffering and complexity cultivate dependence on Christ.
Over time, those seasons became an ecosystem of grace in my soul—a place where inadequacy was met, not with despair, but with Christ. Where I was insufficient, Christ was enough. Where I was weak, God’s power broke through.
That is why Paul could say, “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness” (2 Cor. 11:30). For it is in our weakness that grace proves sufficient and God’s power is made perfect.
Today’s Tenacious Question
Where is God inviting me to stop hiding my inadequacy and instead embrace it as the very place his power wants to shine?
Prayer
Father, I confess that I often want to appear strong, capable, and adequate. But You remind me that Your power is made perfect in weakness. Help me not to run from inadequacy but to meet You in it. Teach me to depend on Your grace when life feels unbearable and leadership feels overwhelming. May my weakness magnify Your strength, and may my life boast not in me but in Christ. Amen.
