God Chose The Weak
[By Taryn Turner]
God has granted each of us certain blessings that we may use in order to strengthen and spread the Gospel to others. We are called by God to take these abilities that we have been granted to sow the seeds of the kingdom as explained in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30). Sometimes it can be hard to figure out the specific gifts that have been granted to us, but they are there nonetheless (1 Corinthians 12:12-31). Not only do we each need to reflect on what these gifts are but also how to use them. In doing so we may change how we previously saw weakness as something God may use as a strength for his kingdom. There are many instances in the Bible in which a person was burdened in a way that made life difficult but this difficulty turned out to be a gift. Two of these instances are found in the book of Judges.
In Judges 3:12-30, we read of the story of Ehud and his interaction with King Eglon of Moab. Ehud was a left-handed man which was not looked well upon in Israel. This did not hinder Ehud as he was still chosen by God to judge Israel and deliver them out of the hands of the Moabites. Something that the world perceived as a weakness was used as a strength. Ehud could have been set back socially and physically by his left-handedness while growing up, but his spiritual resolution could be attributed to his overcoming of this difficulty through the Lord. His mental strength from the Lord allowed him to defeat Eglon and rally Israelites to kill 10,000 Moabites (vs. 28-29), a strength that may not have presented itself if he hadn’t needed to overcome his physical difficulty. Something thought of as a weakness was actually a gift from God that was used for God’s work.
Another judge who started life with difficulty was Jephthah, the son of a prostitute. This in turn lost him his inheritance from Gilead and he suffered the mockery of his brothers and the townspeople (Judges 11:1-3, 7). Jephthah’s troublesome upbringing did not hinder him as he became a well-spoken man of great faith in the eyes of God (Hebrews 11:32-34). Similar to the example of Ehud, it can be inferred that Jephthah had to frequently defend his honor. Overcoming adversity takes strength that is demonstrated in his two defenses we read about in Judges: Defense against the King of Ammonites who falsely accused Israel of taking his land, and his defense against the men of Ephraim (Judges 11: 12-27; 12: 1-6). Jephthah does not immediately jump to the conclusion of going to war with the opposing nations but provides a message with a clear argument and defense so that they may be treated fairly as Jephthah had not been. This is an admirable trait and is partly due to the troubles he overcame since birth. Again, a burdensome upbringing was turned into a gift from God because it gave Jephthah the skills to lead Israel as a Judge.
These examples of the judges demonstrate that we all have different but equally important roles to play in God’s kingdom. Some of these roles that are assigned by our talents and gifts are harder to come to terms with as they may be something we see as a weakness. That is one of the many beautiful things that God provides for us, a perspective that is different from the world. “God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 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 Corinthians 1:27-29, ESV). Instead of looking at our talents through the eyes of man, we must look at them through the eyes of God because where we may see weakness, God can see strength.