It’s nothing new. You’ve likely seen it happen a few times in your life. I’ve had the misfortune of seeing it myself more times than I’m happy to acknowledge. Usually, it’s a young man who falls prey to it but men of all ages – and women also – can have it happen to them and the results are heartbreaking. As I type these very words I’m thinking of two men with whom I was once very close who now have been fully victimized by this and I am watching it potentially happen to two more right now. To what am I referring? Bad strength. It’s proving to be an efficient assassin.
“But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God…” – 2 Chronicles 26:16 {ESV}
Uzziah is a biblical example of what happens when an unguarded strength becomes a double weakness in the life of a believer. He had led such an amazing life for so long and had been mightily used of the Lord in Israel. His testimony radiated God’s glory and he was a beloved king to his people. He was truly making a difference and he was quite content to do things God’s way. When Uzziah’s godly pathway led him to success, fame, fortune, power and achievement he found himself unable to retain his balance and plummeted off the pinnacle of his successes, ultimately dying a cursed leper who lost it all in an unnecessary season of pride and presumption. But when he was strong…scripture declares that this implosion happened because he let himself become a recipient of bad strength. We should learn a few things here so we don’t follow in his footslips.
The bible tells us to be strong and courageous in more than one place. The bible never tells us to live in a strength that is independent of God. God desires us to be proactive and purposeful in how we live out this gift of life. God never permits us to live self-willed and presumptuous. The Christian life most often leads to blessings which may include material gain, a good name and profitable pleasure. The Christian life was never intended to make your name in ALL CAPS and the name of jesus christ in lowercase fonts. You see, most people are blinded to the hazards of strength because they have not learned how to lead their strength on the short leash of humility. Human strength lives two streets over from human pride and when the two meet together on the playground of desire…human pride always seeks to take the lead role and he turns his playmate from human strength to human folly. My two friends and Uzziah learned this too late. All three lost everything.
Let me say something that may rub some of you the wrong way: I am strong and intend to stay that way. Quickly, I qualify that the strength I speak of is one which springs from the cocoon of self-suspicion and mortification of the flesh. I put to death the independence of my personal strength and lay it on the altar of God so that it might be consumed and redeposited with me by Him. If the choice is whether to be a strong Jeff apart from God or a weak Jeff together with God, I have learned what is best. There is a tendency in me (and you too) to fall away from dependence and desperation toward Christ when we experience human strength. The trending of history indicates that when most people become strong in life, they move away from a commitment to Christ rather than deeper into it. Rare is the saint that can be significantly strengthened by God in life and not be tempted to love the strength at the expense of the Strengthener. If you say that this doesn’t really apply to you then you are likely further down this precarious path than you realize. It does apply to you. It applies to every single one of us.
Rejoice in your present weakness as a sovereignly bestowed gift from God that keeps you aware of your need for His grace. His wisdom decreed that you needed your present weakness and it may just be the avenue through which He insulates you from disaster and moves you toward joy. Enjoy your strengths when they are present but double your intensity when it comes to ensuring that they never become a snare to you. God loves to bless you…but know that Satan loves to bless you too. Satan will gladly endow you with strength that will move you a little further away from humility and dependence. Adam and Eve learned the serpent’s subtlety a little too late; you don’t have to mimic their shortsightedness. Paul wrote what is below, and I believe it is fitting today as help from God to lovingly warn us of this great danger:
“But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9-10