Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - Good Things Happen When Your Legs Give Out - #5518

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

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Sometime when you're tired of pushing your way through the mall, just sit down somewhere and watch the children. Playing amateur psychologist, I've observed children relating to their parents there on three different levels. First, there are the kids who are running ahead of their parents - until they suddenly realize they are lost in this sea of legs. At my height, that is a feeling I can relate to! There are also those children who are walking along, holding Mom or Dad's hand; they know the mall is not for the small, so they hang onto a tall. But my favorites are the little ones who are totally exhausted and sort of collapsed in their parents' arms. Their legs have gone on strike and their parents are carrying them. In fact, the child is often sleeping soundly with his head embedded in his parent's shoulder. Sometimes, I've even said to a parent carrying a child like that, "Now that's the way to travel, isn't it?" You know, it really is.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Good Things Happen When Your Legs Give Out."

In those little children collapsed in their parents' arms is a helpful picture of how God may want you to be traveling right now. After all, you're pretty tired aren't you? It's been a long walk; there's been a lot of pushing and shoving and your resources are pretty depleted.

Enter the Apostle Paul in our word for today from the Word of God beginning in 2 Corinthians 12:7 . Paul says, "There was given me a thorn in my flesh ... Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me." We don't know what Paul's thorn was, but, whatever it was, it was something that limited him, that frustrated him, that caused him pain. Paul thought what God would do was to miraculously remove it. God had a better idea.

Paul continues, "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. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Now, Paul's first reaction to the thing that makes him weak, that's beyond his control is pretty much the same as ours - he struggles with it. But eventually, he ends up celebrating it! Why? Because he has discovered a power he could never touch when he was strong. Like that child in the mall with no strength left, he's experiencing in his Daddy's arms a strength and a stride that he could never experience on his on two legs.

Those children in the mall are a picture of how we experience God in a deeper and deeper way. First, we're running around, not caring where God is, until we realize we're lost and our Father finds us. Then, we move into walking along holding His hand, allowing the Lord to help us. I know I can't make it alone, but I'm still walking in my own strength. Then the "thorn" hits and something in my life that levels me. I can do nothing about it. It leaves me limp and powerless.

That's when I discover how strong a Heavenly Father I have. Not just one who saves me or helps me, but my Father who carries me. Now it's all Him! And you can go farther and faster in His arms than you could ever go on your legs! So you can honestly look at your powerlessness and say, "I'm glad I can't."

You see, at that point, you are about to taste God's grace and God's power as only powerless people can, and your struggle will become your platform for talking about a Savior who is all you need when you have nothing to give. It's time to look up and say, "Daddy, carry me." Because you're never stronger than when your Father is carrying you.