Some time ago I was helping my grandson George into his car seat in the back of my car, when I accidentally banged his head. He started to cry.
‘Come on, George, be brave,’ I said.
‘But I don’t want to be brave,’ he replied.
I guess we all know that feeling. Sometimes life is hard, and we know we have a need for courage, but somehow, we just don’t want to be brave. We would rather give in, surrender to the difficulties, and wallow in self-pity.
The Bible seems to constantly exhort us to be brave, to be strong, to take heart, to be courageous. And life during a pandemic certainly calls for us to make a courageous response. But occasionally we may feel overwhelmed and ready to give in or give up.
Perhaps you are reading this at just such a moment. Maybe this comes as a message to you from God so that you do not lose heart. He knows you, and he sees your situation. And he speaks to en-courage you, as he did to the church at Philadelphia: ‘I know that you have little strength (Revelation 3:8).’
He is the compassionate and understanding God who draws alongside us, to give strength to the weary and power to the weak (Isaiah 40:29). You don’t have to do anything, simply turn to him in your need and ask for help. You will discover, as the apostle Paul did, that when you are weak, then you are strong. His power will be demonstrated through your weakness. You can do whatever is required of you because he will give you strength.
