No Other Way

June 19, 2018

"Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 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 12:8-10

For quite a while now, I've been learning something. This morning, as I sat at the kitchen counter drinking my coffee and eating a biscuit and an egg while reading another chapter in Elisabeth Elliot's little book "Be Still My Soul", it all came together. The truth God has been teaching me came by way of conversations with friends, time in His Word, snatches of song lyrics, more time in His Word, examining myself, confessing my sin, and the stack of books I've devoured over the last few months. 

The truth is this...

We Christians know about grace. We know we depend on it, we remind each other that it belongs to us, and we ask God for it regularly. We name our daughters after it. We do our best to grant it to one another. And yet, it takes a lifetime to really truly grasp exactly what it is. If we're honest, we don't really get it. 

Difficulties come our way and we want a way out. We don't want to have to face them, let alone endure them. We immediately seek deliverance and we ask other people to join us in pleading with God. We cling to grace, but we don't really want it. What we want is for things to be easy and comfortable and peaceful and our definition of good. 

I know this is true of you, because it's true of me. Even Christ Himself looked at the road His Father had for Him and asked if there was any other way. 

There isn't another way. There wasn't for Him. There won't be for us. We're meant to face things we can't face. We're meant to look to the Father and to keep looking to the Father. We're meant to depend on the grace He keeps fresh. 

This is how the power of Christ rests on us. This is how our boast becomes gladness in God rather than assurance in our abilities. 

Some people have no problem asking for help. They're not shy about saying they're in over their head. They admit their weakness and look to someone else for strength. I've never been one of those people. I'd mastered the art of looking like  I had it all together before I even started school. I was going places and the way to get there was to make sure my weaknesses appeared to be non-existent. This was partially rooted in my inability to trust people for fear that they'd let me down, but it's also tied to my pride. I don't want to have to trust people. I don't want to let them see who I really am, especially if that includes weakness. 

This kind of living is ridiculous. For one thing, everything we're capable of involved some kind of learning curve. For another thing, nothing we have or are capable of is ours to brag about. The very breath in our lungs comes from Him. 

The most basic truth about humans is that we need help. We need His help. We need each other's help. With that, we're right back where we started...Looking grace square in the face. Help is just another word for grace. 

We plead and plead and plead. We try so hard to do it all and to do it well. We don't want to need God. We don't want to need each other. We'd rather lie to ourselves, to everyone around us, and even to God than to stoop down and say we're in over our head. The situation is too much. Our flesh is pulling too hard. The hate being poured out on us runs too deep. We know it, we feel it, but we limp on. 

We choose sin over grace. Death over life. Darkness over light. A broken cistern that holds no water over fountains of living water. Stones over bread. Mud pies on the side of the road over a vacation by the sea.

He'd get us THROUGH and we'd rather beat our heads against the brick wall of our own pride. 

He knows we need help. If we're honest, we know we need help.

May we recognize our need, admit our need, and humble ourselves to ask. Receiving help and offering help is a chance for the power of Christ to rest on us. He means for us to be strong the same way He means for us to be everything that He calls us to be. 

He shows us how and then He works it out in us. 

Like Paul in 2 Corinthians pleading over his thorn, and Christ in the garden, and the man in this song announcing the fact that he's impotent against his enemies, and Elisabeth Elliot who spent decades of her life writing and teaching truths she was learning in the school of life and faith, and every single human being we're rubbing shoulders with...Our weaknesses are continually showing up thanks to God's providence. 

Where there are thorns and supreme suffering and temptations rooted in our own hearts and losses so great that we're not sure we can go on, He's there saying, "You must. You will. I'm granting you my strength. You are weak. You need help. Here I Am, I'm going to help you. There is no other way." 

The point isn't really the weakness or the strength or even the grace. They all exist to point to God and the fullness of His glory. May we be honest, plead, receive, and then boast. Not in who we are or in the work He has granted us, but in the realization that He is our God and we are His people. 

We boast in this, that we are those who receive help from God Himself.

There is no other way.