Show Unto Them Their Weakness

“And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.” (Ether 12:27). Christ tells us that if we come unto Him, He will show unto us our weakness. Now, I do believe that if we are seeking sincerely to improve our lives, Christ can reveal the areas of our lives that we most need to work on. But I believe that there is a deeper meaning to Christ “showing unto them their weakness.” First of all, for the most part, Christ doesn’t really need to point out what our weaknesses are. We are usually all too painfully aware of our limitations, and if we do have any blindspots, those closest to us are all too happy to oblige us in pointing out our biggest problems in precise and often unsolicited detail. Christ has promised that He will make weak things strong. When He promises to show us our weakness, He shows us how illusory and insubstantial our weaknesses are. They are a fog of fear and doubt and a distorted sense of our own worth and our own strength. We are children of Gods, and heirs to thrones, kingdoms, principalities, dominions and eternal glories. If we come unto Christ, in humility and with faith and hope, Christ will show unto us our weakness, but more importantly, He will show unto us the regal majesty of our divine nature, our own inner strength and the limitless strength and power of His grace, and though we may perceive ourselves as a weak thing, He will make us strong. We may believe that we are not strong enough to battle cancer, or lupus, or Alzheimer’s. But we are. We may believe that we are not strong enough to lose a parent or a spouse or a sibling or a child. But we are. We may believe that we are not strong enough to go to a foreign country, or overcome an addiction, or forgive the person who hurt us the most. But we are. If we come unto Christ, He will show us our weakness, show us how flimsy and wispy and insubstantial it is compared to our own inner strength and courage and faith and resilience. When we came into this life, we passed through a veil of forgetfulness, but as we come unto Christ, strip by strip He will remove that veil and reveal how much power we have as sons and daughters of an all powerful God. I know I already quoted Gandalf this week but here he is again: “‘A thing is about to happen which has not happened since the Elder Days: the Ents are going to wake up and find that they are strong.’ ‘What will they do?’ asked Legolas in astonishment. ‘I do not know,’ said Gandalf. ‘I do not think they know themselves. I wonder.’” Christ knows what we are capable of, He sees our shining, limitless potential. He sees our deep well of strength. There are challenges ahead. Challenges that we will fear and worry that we are not strong enough to face. But I promise that as we come unto Christ, He will help us to wake up and find that we are strong. He will show us our weakness, and He will show us our strength, and He will make weak things become strong.