Turning Poison into Medicine

The difference between a medicine and a poison can be the manner and the intensity with which it is administered. The proper dose can cure, while too much can kill. I was thinking about this in the context of how God created us with certain strengths and weaknesses. I don’t believe that our “weaknesses” occurred out of any kind of negligence on God’s purpose, In fact, I’m not sure that God even meant for them to be weaknesses. I don’t believe that God does anything without a purpose in mind. If we have any weaknesses, they are not there by accident. And I don’t believe that they are there only to test our faith or our patience. When God says “I will make weak things become strong unto them” (Ether 12:27), I don’t believe He is suggesting that if we come to God with our weak part, He will swap it out with a strong part. God gives us various strengths and capacities and sensitivities for the betterment of ourselves and for our families and communities. Unfortunately, due to the fallen nature of our world, due to bad choices on our part or the part of others, due to unavoidable tragedies, some of these abilities get bent and twisted and misapplied. What was meant as a medicine or a cure gets applied in the wrong dosage and becomes a poison. When God says that He will make weak things strong, He is promising that if we come unto Him, He will show us how to turn that poison into a medicine. He will show us how our weakness can actually be our strength when applied correctly. God doesn’t make mistakes. Nor does He saddle us with frailties out of some unnecessary cruelness. God designed us for a particular purpose, and as we come unto Him, He will show us how we can live up to our purpose, and He will show us that what we’ve always perceived as a weakness, as some poison, is actually a strength and a cure to help heal some of the hurts of the world.