The Power of Powerlessness

Monday, March 18, 2013

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When you grow up in the Midwest, you don't get too much experience with hurricanes; a tornado maybe, but not hurricanes. We were vacationing out on the end of Long Island some summers ago, and the word came that there was a hurricane making its way up the East Coast and would probably go over Long Island. We were well up from the water and were not in any real danger, even though the people near the water were being evacuated.

So we went into town and every store had candles and batteries. We thought we might lose power during that time and evidently so did the whole town! We got everything out that we thought we'd need; all the batteries, a little hibachi grill in case we had to cook without a stove, we lined the refrigerator with newspaper like you're supposed to, we filled the bathtub with water so in case the electric goes out we'd still have some water. And then we all moved, as the storm was moving up the coast, from our upstairs bedrooms to the living room, and we all just kind of slept together on the floor there.

You know what? Everybody loved it! The kids said, "Is this a hurricane? This is cool!" Because we weren't in separate bedrooms; we were all kind of cozy together, and sure enough we lost the electric. It was knocked out for four days. So our nights were all by candle light, and it was great! We read, we cuddled, we got close, we made lifetime memories. That power outage gave us a whole new closeness; one of the best things that could happen for us turned out to be losing all our power.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Power of Powerlessness."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Chronicles 20:12. Jehoshaphat is the King of Judah, and Judah has already encountered enough difficulties, and they are now having a massive army coming toward them. And this is the testimony of Jehoshaphat to the Lord, "We have no power to face this vast enemy that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You." Isn't that great?

Can you relate to those words, "no power"? You say, "Boy, when it comes to money right now, or my health, or my family, or people that I'm having trouble with, I feel like I have no power against it." Can you relate to those words, "a vast army"? You say, "Man, I'm overwhelmed by all that's going on. I'm paralyzed. Sometimes I'm about to panic." Well, that's good! You say, "Why is that good?" For the same reason no power was good for our family during that hurricane. Something happened between us that would never have happened if we had the power that we always depend on.

Right now you have the opportunity to run and wrap yourself around your Heavenly Father like a desperate child. And in that complete dependency His power takes over unobstructed by your efforts to do it. It's all God; it's none of you, because there's no more of you left to fight. And at that moment you are more powerful than you have ever been - powerless but powerful.

You've admitted you're a beggar and God is a billionaire. You have nothing to contribute to a victory, and so now the billionaire pours His resources into you. This vast army moving against you could be the greatest thing that ever happened to you if you do what Jehoshaphat says here, "Our eyes are upon You." Not on that army. "Our eyes are upon You." You say, "Lord, it's all Yours." Your power has been blown out by the storm, but it would and it could lead you to a deeper closeness with your Father than you have ever known.

By the way, an incredible victory was wrought by the power of God back in Jehoshaphat's day. And maybe that's going to happen in your life right now because you're powerless at last.