“How completely satisfying to turn from our limitations to a God who has none.”
A. W. Tozer
I do not get excited about limitations; in fact, I would rather not have them. Limitations highlight my weaknesses and vulnerabilities. As I have aged, a lack of physical strength and energy has become my reality. Yet, as I get older, I can agree more with what the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:9. “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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
The times I struggle most with my limitations of time, energy, and strength are the ones when God is most fully seen and expressed. The light shines the brightest in darkness, and so too does God’s power and limitlessness shine the brightest when I embrace my weaknesses. Mary, the mother of Jesus, submitted to God and was a willing servant to carry the Messiah in her womb, even when it looked impossible. She still said yes despite her limitations. I want to make myself available to God’s desires despite my fear of limitations. Just like Mary discovered, my weaknesses are not obstacles to God.
Our limitations are an invitation for us to lock arms with Jesus and shake hands in agreement in our partnership with Him. God encourages us to join Him and allow Him to provide all that is needed. God wants us to yield, submit ourselves, and embrace our limitations so that He can dwell within our weaknesses and do what only He can do. God’s best work and the opportunities for miracles appear when we come to the dead end of our limits. The limitation of lack of food opened the door for God to perform the miracle of feeding five thousand.
What if we began to look at our limitations with an attitude of expectancy, wondering what miracle God might perform? Instead of complaining and despising our limits, or wishing we had the capacity that someone else has, why don’t we embrace them, thank God, and watch heaven invade earth? For it is in our limitations that we behold His glory.
As we look ahead to Easter, reflect on how Jesus, the Son of God, continually chose to embrace His limitations as a man, as seen in Philippians 2:6-8. The limitation of Jesus’ crucifixion led to His miraculous resurrection! Aren’t you grateful Jesus embraced His limitations on our behalf?
“God can do what we are not capable of! His power has no limitations!
Leroy Jenkins
Relevant Reflections:
1. What limitations do you have and how can you embrace them?
2. Describe a time when your limitations allowed God to perform a miracle in your life.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay