Why Does God Use Weak People

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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
(2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ESV)

I have always wondered why God uses weak people. When I think about this and look at the examples in the Bible, I can begin to see an answer to this question. For example, when a strong person does something that a strong person normally can, it is normal. However, when a strong person attempts to do something more than what is normally done – using his own strength, it can lead to pride. Pride happens because the strong person thinks he was strong enough to accomplish something more.

But when you are weak and you do something that is strong – as a Christian – you need God’s help to do it. When you ask God’s help to do something strong, even when you are weak, then God gets the glory.

You take a bodybuilder and you ask him to bench press 100 pounds and it is easy. You challenge him to bench press 300 pounds and if he can do it, you think it is because of his own strength.

You take a normal person and you ask him to bench press 100 pounds, it might be done, but it would be hard on him. If you challenge him to bench press 300 pounds, he may say your crazy. He can’t do it.

But suppose the bodybuilder comes to the normal person and helps him lift the 300 pounds. Of course, it relies mostly on the strength of the body builder. Yes, the normal use some strength, but the bodybuilder uses his strength too. When the 300 pounds is lifted, others may look at you and say: “That was amazing. I can’t believe you could do it. How did you do that?” Your answer would naturally be, “The bodybuilder helped me.” So it is with any task or challenge that God gives us. His grace is behind us, lifting that burden, and helping us overcome that burden. People think it is because of our own strength. But we have to say that it was because of God’s strength.

Now what would happen if we said, “Yeah, I did that. I did it all alone.” What do you think the bodybuilder would think about that? Wouldn’t he come to your house one day and say, “Hey, did you forget about me or what?” When we talk like this – “I did it alone”, we are acting like a strong person. When we act like a strong person, even though we are weak, we promote ourselves and try to give the glory to ourselves.

This is the reason why God doesn’t use strong people very often. God uses weakened, hurt, and broken people. Look at all the examples in the Bible of weak people that God used. Moses, who stuttered, spoke before a Pharaoh and led the people of Israel out of slavery. David was the small boy who challenged a giant enemy and won. (Read the Psalms. You will find that David was a very weak man.) Sarah was a grandmother that had a baby. Paul was sick and yet he was used by God to heal people. Jeremiah suffered from homesickness and yet was used by God to teach a people in a foreign how to make a home. The example go on and on.

When a weak person receives an honor, the honor is forwarded to God. When a strong person receives an honor, the honor goes to the self. God uses people who will give Him the most glory. Therefore God loves to use weak people because weak people don’t pour honor on themselves.

Weak people look at the challenge and say that they can’t do it themselves. When they look to God’s grace, they learn that they can do it. After they overcome the challenge, they give God the glory.

God wants the most glory and honor. How does He get the most glory and honor? He uses weak people. This is His way.