I Can Do It

“I can do it.”
“I'll be fine.”
“Thanks, but no thanks.”

This tends to be my attitude towards most things people offer me help with. I am a strong, independent woman, and I can do it myself!  I don't easily let anyone, especially a guy, help me. I even once, in a moment of supreme frustration at continually be offered help (dumb, I know!), lashed out at the sweetest guy, calling him a "male chauvinist" and effectively telling him to never offer his help again. Thankfully, because he is a lovely human and not at all what I accused him of being, he forgave me and still does offer his help.

But what it is, what causes me to lash out when help is offered? Whether I can handle it or not, I don’t want help. Accepting help is way harder than it should be.

I think it simply comes down to pride. Accepting help requires acknowledgement that maybe I don't have it all it takes. Accepting help requires humility. Accepting help shows that we’re weak.

But maybe that's not such a bad thing?

In 2 Corinthians 12:10 Paul said, "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."

That doesn't seem to make any sense. How can we be strong when we are weak? Think about it though. When we think we’re strong, do we want help? Nope, of course not, because "We can do it."

But the big question is, if we are strong, self-sufficient and can do everything ourselves, where does Jesus fit in in our lives? If we don’t realize our limitations, if we forever say, “I can do it,” we will end up totally pushing God out of the picture.

The verse before the above one says, “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.”

It’s okay to be weak. It is in our weakness that we find the fullness of the strength of our God. And then in HIS strength we are able to live strong lives. We certainly can't do everything on our own, but through Christ who strengthens us we can do all the things (Phil 4:13).

Let Him be your strength. We are inherently weak, but man, our God is oh so strong!