He’s So Patient

"I can do all things through him who strengthens me." For the longest time, this verse empowered me to do the things that I never thought I could do or the things I knew I should do but have been afraid to. Recently, this verse for me has shown me my hopelessness without the Lord. I am constantly reminded of the opposite of this verse, which is I can do nothing without Him who strengthens me. On one hand, I am encouraged by the fact that He is willing and able to do all things through us, and on the other hand, I am frustrated by my inability.

I can work hard to earn or make my own righteousness, but it really isn't righteousness, because the core of who I am is unrighteous. So, even if I did something right, in the end it would not be right at all, because the motivation of my heart is continually evil. But the Lord is so gracious to me. He knows that I am not able to be righteous on my own so He lived his life without sin and gave it up so I could have His righteousness.

The Lord has been showing me that it doesn't matter how much I try to do things with the right motivation, I can't. But He has also shown me that when I surrender my motivation to Him and allow Him to work through me, in those times when I am obedient to His voice, it does not matter that part of me is desperately wicked because I am not doing things in my flesh, but I am allowing the Spirit to work through me and His motivations are never evil.

I find that even though the Lord has shown this to me, I still insist on doing things in my own strength. My spirit fights with my flesh to surrender to the Lord, and in those times I am grateful to the Lord that He is patient with me and waits through these struggles. It reminds me of children when they are unable to do things they want to do, they lie on the floor and pout. But my Father waits patiently for me to come to Him and ask Him to help me do the things I am unable to do on my own. I am thankful for His patience with me and I am glad I can say, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."