“Lord, give me strength.”
I catch myself praying this almost every morning. It’s become a habit. When I’ve just woken up, waiting for the water to boil for my pour over coffee and trying to enter into prayer, this is my constant petition: a prayer for strength.
This morning I stopped to wonder why I pray this. Yes, it’s habitual, but no, it isn’t thoughtless. So why do I pray this petition? The answer I’ve found is quite simple: I genuinely feel, particularly at that moment, I need strength. I feel worn out, jaded, and tired.
I feel weak.
It’s basic human weakness. And at this point in the post, I could go straight to 2 Corinthians 12 where the apostle Paul makes his famous statement “when I am weak, then I am strong.” But I’ll hold back—for now. Before going there it’s helpful to examine this feeling I (and others) encounter almost every morning and ask why God designed us to experience weakness. Analyzing this will give even more weight to what Paul says about weakness and strength.
Weak, While Others Seem Strong
When praying “Lord, give me strength” I’m not looking forward to the day, to the hours ahead, to what I have to do, even to what I get to do. It’s not depression, it’s just weariness. I want to remain sleeping. Why? Again, I just feel weak.
Even more, it’s in those moments I compare myself to others. I think what they are like. Others seem strong. Others probably aren’t pessimistic like I am. Others look energized. And I assume they probably are all these things when they wake up. In contrast, here I am: half asleep, trying to wake up, with gross hair, tired and weary.
Two Purposes in Morning Weariness
That’s how we feel when we’re weak in the morning, which now brings us to analyze why this happens.
These feelings of weakness are natural—this is true. But even though they’re ‘natural,’ God is the one who designed what we term “natural.” Meaning, God orchestrated us to work this way on purpose. He has reasons for morning weariness. What, then, is the purpose of such weariness?
First, these feelings are a daily reminder of our limitations, our dependence. We are fashioned dust, dependent upon the Creator by whom and to whom and through whom we exist (Romans 11:16; Colossians 1:16). We aren’t merely dependent on him to be created or saved, we’re dependent on him to exist at each moment (Revelation 4:11). This, I believe, is a (if not, the) major purpose God created for tiredness: we realize our dependence upon him, our need of him, our creature-ness. Such recognition is helpful.
But there’s another purpose, too—a purpose that’s both humbling and encouraging. Second, daily weakness and tiredness remind us that the self-strength facade we all put on every day isn’t reality. Our daily public strength-showings aren’t the the whole story. In unveiled reality, we’re seriously weak.
A Personal Example in My Life
To show this, I’ll make it personal. I’m a pastor, and so most days of the week I communicate with people. I have the privilege of talking to them, praying for them, and shepherding them toward Christ. But because of this leadership, when people interact with me I know I sometimes can come off like I’m very put together. After all, I’m a pastor and the reason they’re coming to me (usually) is because they have a love for Christ and respect that I’ve been called to be a leader in his church. This is well and good, and God designed the church to have elders who, by God’s grace alone, can be an encouragement and example to his flock (eg. 1 Timothy 2:1-7; 1 Peter 5:1-5). But overall, I think this can lead me to looking non-weak. Particularly on Sunday during and after the church services, I can come across as if I’m strong.
So here’s where I return to my morning tiredness, my morning prayer, “Lord, give me strength.” This, I know, is who I am, no matter what my daily public strength-showings (whether intentional or not) display. I’m a weak man—weaker than I come off, weaker than most know. God, in his grace, does give daily strength; to him be praise as he does supply me energy to love, to be gracious and genuine, to “toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me” (Colossians 1:29). But every single day, in the morning, as I’m sitting there tired waiting for my coffee pour over water to boil, I reminded how weak I am.
Grace and Power in Weakness
Now we can arrive at the beloved “power in weakness” verse:
“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…For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
Daily encouragement comes when we realize this is not only true for larger health issues or struggles, but also for daily tiredness. When we’re weak in the morning and feeling like we just can’t, God’s power comes and beautifully displays itself that day. When we realize we don’t have it in us, Jesus’s grace—his treating us way better than we deserve—is able to swoop in and nourish.
It’s when we realize we’re dust and dependent upon Christ that his upholding power to get us through the day is most appreciated. It’s when we realize our public strength-showings we put on every day are not strong us but weak us supplied with Christ’s strength, that God’s grace is most vibrantly worshiped.
Feel free to join me as I continue my morning prayer, “Lord, give me strength.” It’s a wonderful habit. And when analyzed, it leads us to worship the gracious, strength-giving God we have.
