Free to be feeble

by Jonathan Krause

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The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength (1 Samuel 2:4).

Read 1 Samuel 2:1–10

Gird.

Now there’s a word you don’t hear too often these days. (Apart from line four of the Australian National Anthem.)

I did a quick Google to check my understanding. It means:

• encircle with a belt or band
• prepare oneself for something challenging.

What about ‘feeble’?

No-one really wants to own up to that, do they? (Though, after barrowing a cubic metre of Cottage Mulch onto the garden yesterday, that’s exactly how I feel!)

That physical weakness aspect of ‘feeble’ is just part of it, though. Our world demands we celebrate success and strength, so you can find yourself trying to hide your frailties and cover up your flaws, in case anyone thinks you’re feeble.

Then, if you’re a Christian, you have to put up with people accusing you of needing ‘a crutch’ and saying you lack the courage to handle things on your own.

I remember as a kid in church mumbling the humbling ‘I, a poor, miserable sinner …’

Back then, they were words to just get over and done with. Now, the online experts and influencers would label that confession damaging to self-esteem.

It takes courage to admit you’re weak. Feeble.

Especially when we’re facing ‘something difficult or challenging’.

That’s where the promise in today’s reading, fulfilled in the ‘weakness’ of the child whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, is so liberating.

We are free to be feeble because God is our strength.

Yes, I know that’s one of those messages you see printed on bookmarks and stitched on wall hangings, and it can feel a bit cliché and too easy a way to offer comfort.

Yet, admitting you’re feeble brings freedom, too.

You’re free to ask for help. Freed to accept it.

It’s a step of faith to surrender – not to the enemy or the world or to our ego and insecurity, but to God our Father. Surrendering means we can step back and marvel as God does the girding, while you and I do the gurgling, as child-like, we accept the strength that God offers.

There’s nothing feeble about that.

Lord, the world demands I be more than I can possibly be. Sets standards even the strongest can’t achieve. So, in my weakness, I simply surrender to you. Be my strength as you set me free to be feeble. Amen.

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