That They May Be Humble

"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." God shows us our weakness for a very specific reason - that we may be humble. If we recognize and acknowledge our weakness in a way that leads us to humble ourselves before the Lord and plead for His grace to transform our weakness into strength, then we are dealing with our weakness in an inspired and healthy way. However, if we are dwelling on our weakness as a means to reinforce our sense of low self esteem, or as an excuse to avoid or postpone making necessary changes in our lives, or to perpetuate a sense of victimhood and misery, or to cling to some form of false modesty, or to shirk responsibility, then we are denying the grace of God and ensuring that weak things remain weak. Many of us have an overdeveloped, even distorted, sense of our weakness and we allow ourselves to be robbed of any hope or agency or responsibility to turn our weaknesses into strengths. We blow right past humility and into humiliation. God does not show us our weakness to shame us or to make us feel bad or weak or helpless or hopeless. He shows us our weakness so that we, with humility, will pour out our souls to Him in all earnestness to plead for Him to transform our weakness into strength. His grace is sufficient to turn every single one of our weaknesses into a strength. We just have to look at our weakness with humility only, no more, and no less. I know that when we are truly humble, we will see the potential strength hidden inside our weakness, and we will allow the Spirit to guide us in the steps that we must take to build up our strength, and we will accept with a full and open and grateful heart the Savior's transforming grace to truly make weak things become strong.