God of the Weak

“Who are you to judge another’s household servant? Before his own Lord he stands or falls. And he will stand, because the Lord is able to make him stand.” Romans 14:4 CSB

“Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy…” ‭‭Jude‬ ‭1‬:‭24‬ ‭CSB‬‬

God is love. We’re at least mentally aware of this truth about God. One of the great pursuits in our lives with God is to understand more and more deeply God’s love for us. He loves us together as a group of believers, and He loves us personally.

One of the reminders we have of God’s deep love for us is His promise to strengthen us when we are weak. This message is constant in the Bible. In the Old Testament, God promises that He “strengthens the powerless” (Isaiah 40:29) and that those who hope in Him will “renew their strength” and “soar on wings like eagles.” (Isaiah 40:31) Jesus Himself says, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11‬:‭28‬-‭30‬ ‭CSB‬‬) 

Jesus’s heart for the weak is unmistakable.

What we don’t always think about is how God’s heart for us in our weakness translates to our daily living.

What does it mean to be weak and to be cared for by God?

Paul gives a beautiful picture of one of the ways this plays out. In Romans 14, Paul is talking about a cultural issue in the church, where some people are uncomfortable eating certain food and other people in the church realize that there’s no issue with eating this food. Paul describes those who are uncomfortable with eating this food as those who are weaker in the faith (Romans 15:1). 

In this particular situation, Paul makes it very clear that it is the responsibility of those who are “stronger” in their faith to support those who are weaker. We don’t do that by forcing them to violate their conscience or by telling them how wrong or weak they are. Instead, he says the stronger believers “Have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please [themselves].” (Romans 15:1) This is a reflection of the heart of God as we have already seen. God is here for the last and the lost and the least, and He doesn’t stop caring about us when we become saved. His heart is always for the weak, and we as believers are instructed to share that care (Paul actually uses pretty strong language about this.)

It’s probably important to say two things before we move on: first, if we find ourselves categorizing ourselves as “strong” believers when it comes to some issue so that we can characterize Christians with the other perspective as “weak,” we’ve missed the point entirely. If we ever have an area in our life with Jesus where we believe we are strong, we should “be careful not to fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12) Categorizing ourselves and others into these two groups is a pretty dangerous level of arrogance. The second thing we need to mention is that there are things that are objectively wrong. The Old Testament, Jesus, Paul, and the rest of the New Testament writers are very clear about this. When it comes to moral issues, we cannot just say, “you think that’s wrong, but I know it’s okay because I have a more mature faith.” Paul’s exhortation here applies to things that are truly morally acceptable (Jesus and later Peter both taught that there were no unclean foods) but that some people are morally uncomfortable with anyway, for whatever reason. (We’ll talk about this more another time.)

Now here’s the daily encouragement that comes out of this passage. When Paul is introducing his teaching about this cultural issue, before Paul begins telling the stronger believers to care for the weak, Paul says something about each individual’s relationship with God. He says, “one who does not eat must not judge one who does, because God has accepted him.” (Romans 14:3) God has accepted us, regardless of the weakness or the fragility of our faith. That’s pretty encouraging.

But he goes on! “Who are you to judge another’s servant?” Paul says. We expect that; that’s the point Paul is making. He still goes on, “Before His own Lord He stands or falls.” And here it is: “AND HE WILL STAND, BECAUSE THE LORD IS ABLE TO MAKE HIM STAND.” (Romans 14:3, emphasis mine, of course.)

He will stand.

The Lord is able and will make Him stand.

When our faith is weak, we can hope in the Lord. How will we stand up to the oppressive evil that comes against us in our lives? God will make us stand. When we don’t know how we’re going to endure life’s circumstances without our faith being crushed, God will make us stand.

We are not doing life with God on our own. For believers, this life really is life WITH God. He is the one making us stand. 

We (I) could never stand up against the schemes of satan, or the evil in the world, or my own foolishness for that matter. My faith isn’t strong enough on my own. Life is too hard. It’s too dark. It’s too evil. But my God will make me stand.

We all experience times when our faith feels weak. There are times we worry that we might not be able to endure the difficulties that are facing us. In these moments, it is essential that we remember this teaching from Paul, this promise that God gave us: we will stand. Not because of anything to do with us or our own strength or grit, but because God will make us stand.

What difficulty are you facing? When you feel shaken, or like you will never make it through this season of life that you are in, be comforted by this way that God loves you. He doesn’t leave you to endure on your own. He will make you stand. 

Isaiah started telling us this hundreds of years before Paul. “youths may become faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:30-31) It isn’t that we need to practice being strong so that we don’t grow weak or faint, because everyone grows weak. That’s what Isaiah is saying: even the best and strongest of us are going to feel weary and weak. But there is a remedy: God will give us strength, like an eagle has strength to fly.

Our God supplies our needs, even what is lacking in our faith.

When we are weak, He is strong, even in our faith.

God says that His people will stand, because He will make us stand.

When you feel weary, ask God to help you turn to and lean on Him for strength. The enemy would destroy you with all the heaviness and difficulty of life. But God promises that you will stand, because He will hold you up.

He will make you stand.