God wants us to depend on him
“Real true faith is man’s weakness leaning on God’s strength.”1 ~Dwight L. Moody
Missionaries are people just like everyone else—with flaws, weaknesses, and failings. But when we receive our call to missions, we feel like we need to change. “The world cries for men who are strong; strong in conviction, strong to lead, to stand, to suffer.”2 This is the typical image of a missionary. Somehow, we become deluded into thinking we are able to handle anything. Fast forward to being on the field where something as simple as trying to figure out food labels at the store can be exhausting. In pre-field orientation, we aren’t taught how to handle life when our strength gives out, and unfortunately, “there is no such thing as transformation by aviation.”3 We need a training manual on how to be strong when we find ourselves weak and overwhelmed.
Lesson 1: Growing in faith
Hebrews 11 might be considered that training manual on how to do great things in weakness. It is a chapter on the heroes of the faith from David to Elijah. The theme of the chapter is that the most important thing is not ministry, but faith. “By faith” is repeated 19 times (ESV), which shows us that God is serious about growing our faith. Daniel in the lion’s den, Noah building the ark on dry land, and so on—all are stories of weak people relying on God to make them strong in the most difficult of circumstances.
Lesson 2: God uses anyone
The second lesson from Hebrews 11 is who does God use in his training program. Prostitutes to kings are included in this list. It’s clear that there is no special group that God uses, and that includes missionaries. God can use anyone who depends on him when they are weak, and this dependence produces strength.
Lesson 3: Weakness is part of God’s plan
The third lesson of the Hebrews 11 training manual is that growing our faith through weakness is part of God’s plan. The key is found in the middle of the chapter. It says, that many, including Gideon, Samson, and David, “through faith . . . were made strong out of weakness” (Heb. 11:33-34 ESV). God often put these heroes in impossible situations for this very reason. For those of us who have been working hard in our own strength, it might be hard to accept that if you “deny your weakness . . . you will never realize God’s strength in you.”4
The secret on how to be strong is to admit we can’t do it without God’s help. In other words: admit our weakness and depend on God. “Missionaries must intentionally pursue intimacy with Christ and learn to abide in Him.”5 In fact, God actually intended our weakness to be the tool that grows our faith. “Spiritual maturity is a deep, well-tested relationship to our triune God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and a quality of relationship with both believers and unbelievers that embraces concern, sympathy, warmth, care, wisdom, insight, discernment, and understanding.”6 This faith grown through weakness produces a quality in our lives that attracts believers and non-believers to Christ.
We get misled by the myth that missionaries are supposed to be strong. But being strong in God’s plan is to be weak. As our faith grows through dependence on God, people will see it and be drawn to Christ. This, after all, is the purpose of missions.
1. Emma Moody Fitt ed., Day by Day with D.L. Moody, (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1977) June 3.
2. Elizabeth Elliot, The Mark of a Man (Grand Rapids, MI: Revell, 2006), 15.
3. Paul Akin, “The Number One Reason Missionaries Go Home,” https://www.imb.org/2017/05/25/number-one-reason-missionaries-go-home/ (May 25, 2017).
4. Joni Eareckson Tada, “Maryland Rehab Center”, https://www.joniandfriends.org/maryland-rehab-center/ (February 21, 2018).
5. Paul Akin, “The Number One Reason Missionaries Go Home”.
6. J. I. Packer, Finishing Our Course with Joy: Ageing with Hope, (Nottingham, UK: Inter-Varsity Press, 2014), 94.