The Narrow Path Ministries

A post from another thread.....

I have recently read a book claiming that God would be weak if He failed to use His power to wreak vengeance on those who do not choose Him in the end. The author seemed to base God's strength on His ability to cause pain and death. I've thought alot about this lately. Is there anything weak about God sustaining our sin-filled lives until all have made a choice for Him?

What about that darkest day when God really appeared weak?
Was it weak for Him to allow humans to beat stripes into His back?
Was it weakness that allowed Him to carry His own cross up that hill?
Was He weak for refusing to defend Himself verbally?
What is weaker than the Creator allowing His creatures to pound nails into His hands?
As He hung there in the darkness, was it weakness that caused Him to cry out to His Father?

Perhaps the kingdom of heaven is upside down to our human thinking:

1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight.

1 Corinthians 1:18-21 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him.

As I contemplated the concept of God appearing weak if He does not use His force, I realized that the strength of a being is not the power they have-- but how and what they do with their power.

If it is weakness for God to let go of sinners, then it was weakness for God to let go of Jerusalem. If refusal to blast sinners with His power, is a sign of God's weakness, then the ultimate proactive move on the part of God--that of dying for His created beings is also reduced to mere weakness. A few people near the cross may have mistaken Jesus' love for weakness, but in reality, it was the ultimate strength of God's love.

To those who may be tempted to see God's non-violent actions as weak, I say, "Behold the Lamb of God!"

Defining God by human terms and human understand is always a bad idea.

Isa 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

I thinks its a better idea to beleive God is what He claims to be and if I don't understand what is happening then the weakness is within me.

tim

Murf wrote:Defining God by human terms and human understand is always a bad idea.

What other "terms" and "understanding" do we have to work with?

Isa 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

Indeed, and yet God gives us a perfect glimpse into who He is and how He operates through the life of His Son.

John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou [then], Shew us the Father?

I thinks its a better idea to beleive God is what He claims to be and if I don't understand what is happening then the weakness is within me.

No matter what the "weakness is within" us all.

Working in prison ministry like I do it is beyond difficult to explain to prisoners what man (especially to those in prison) considers to be "weakness" is actually the ultimate in strength. Take Christ on the cross for example. Instead of reviling and cursing and threatening those that spat in His face and those of His very handiwork for killing Him on the cross what did He do? He forgave them and prayed for them.

Could you do that? Could I do that?

Men, especially those in prison, would consider not retaliating when someone spits in your face as the ultimate weakness. Spitting in the face of a "shot caller" will get you shanked and possibly a pine box. Yet it is the ultimate strength of God that would allow His very creation to do that very thing and still be willing to forgive them.

That is what is meant by "The Weakness of God."