Many, in their spiritual life, when they see the path of perfection long before them and difficult, despair because of their weakness. But tonight I want to speak to you about one point, which is that our loving God is the God of the weak…

The God of the Weak

Our compassionate God stands beside every weak person to support him… Do we not say of Him in the prayers of the Church:
Helper of those who have no helper, hope of those who have no hope, comfort of the fainthearted, harbor of those in the storm…

That is, the one whose heart is small, who cannot bear the troubles of the world, nor the troubles of sin, nor the troubles of people, finds in God his comfort. And if his ship is disturbed amid stormy waves, he finds in God the harbor of peace…

Our God is the God of the weak and the poor; He always stands beside them. When the waves rose against the disciples’ boat, they saw Christ walking on the sea, rebuking the winds, and saving the ship from the waves…

God is always with the weak, and against the strong who pride themselves on their strength… against the harsh, the arrogant, and the proud. Therefore the Scripture said, “Pride goes before destruction.” He was against the haughty Pharaoh, and with the meek and quiet Moses. He stood with poor Jacob fleeing from his brother Esau, and comforted him with visions, promises, and blessings. He did not stand with harsh Esau…

He was with poor Joseph, who was thrown into the pit, sold as a slave, and cast into prison unjustly, and in all that he did not defend himself.

He also stood beside the poor woman who was caught in the very act, and the people were harsh with her, exposed her, and sought her death; so He defended her without her asking Him, and without seeking His help…

He says, “To this one will I look: to the poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word” (Isaiah 66:2). And He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound” (Isaiah 61:1).

He went to save the poor sick man who had been thirty-eight years in his illness and had no one to put him into the pool. He stood beside the man born blind when the leaders of the Jews cast him out of the synagogue.

From these two verses, the Lord stands beside the poor, the contrite in spirit, the brokenhearted, the captives, and the bound… Truly He is the God of the weak…

He was with weak David before King Saul and the giant Goliath.
David who was fleeing from wilderness to wilderness, with Saul against him in all his authority, soldiers, and cruelty; David the youth who stood before the giant Goliath.

He defended the sinful woman who washed His feet with her tears, and for her sake rebuked Simon the Pharisee. Likewise, He preferred the contrite tax collector to the proud Pharisee. He stood with all the weak, defended children, women, and sinners, and accepted the prodigal son.

Truly, “The Lord executes righteousness for the oppressed,” and “The Lord preserves the children.” Therefore, if you are weak, do not fear your weakness, but say, “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). Why?
Because God says, “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Is He not the One who “has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the strong,” and not only the weak, but also the despised and the things which are not?

Be weak then, and the Lord will be with you. Do not be strong and the Lord depart from you.

The Church was defenseless and weak before all the power, violence, and weapons of the Roman state, yet it triumphed over it, because the power of the Lord was with it.

If you find a servant who has become mighty, say to him, “Your end has drawn near.”

Manasseh says to the Lord, “In me, the weak one, Your power is shown… If You have mercy on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, these are saints. But in a sinner like me, Your mercy is shown.”

He said, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Do not stand before God making promises as one confident in his ability to fulfill them, but stand as a weak one asking for help…

Say to Him: Help me to leave this sin, for whenever I leave it, I return to it again… Confess your weakness and say to Him:
“You, O Lord, know the vigilance of my enemies, and You know the weakness of my nature, O my Creator,” as we say to the Lord in the Veil Prayer.

In your spiritual wars, you overcome by your weakness, not by your strength. For in confessing your weakness, you overcome by the power of God that is in you…

We say in the Agpeya prayers, “The mighty have risen against me, and the strong have sought my life; they have not set You before them.” Those strong ones who pride themselves on their strength, “In the way in which I walk they have secretly set a snare for me… Refuge has failed me; no one cares for my soul.” And we stand before God as weak ones and say, “How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?”

The person who stands before God as weak is the one who receives strength from God by which he can overcome all.

Saint Anthony, who said to the devil, “I am weaker than to fight your smallest,” was the one who was able to conquer the greatest demons…

If you stand before God as strong, you rely on your human arm, and then grace will leave you so that you may feel your weakness and become humble…

Speak with God frankly and explain to Him your weakness. Say to Him: I am weak before this particular sin. If Your kingdom, O Lord, is entered only by the strong, shall I, the weak one, perish?

And if I am weak, who will strengthen me except You, O Lord?

I, O Lord—as a weak one—ask for Your strength; and as helpless, I ask for Your help; and as defeated before the demons, I ask You to fight them on my behalf with Your weapons. God always has compassion on the weak, the bound, the helpless. How beautiful is the saying of the Apostle Paul in compassion toward the weak:
“Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also” (Hebrews 13:3).

The problem of the Pharisees was that they trusted in themselves and in their strength, and therefore despised sinners and the weak. Thus the Lord rebuked their feelings.

If you despise a weak fallen person, know that you are liable to fall like him.

If God asks us to bear the weaknesses of the weak, then surely He—blessed be His Name—bears the weaknesses of the weak with immeasurable longsuffering. Wrestle with God. Stand before Him weak to receive strength from Him, empty to receive fullness from Him, ignorant that He may give you from His knowledge.

If you trust that you are weak, you will learn prayer and attain humility.
For the strong rarely pray, and it is hard for them to humble themselves…

If you stand before God as weak, He will pour out gifts upon you…

When Isaiah said, “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips,” he was worthy that one of the seraphim should come with a live coal from the altar and touch his lips to purify him.

Do not trust in yourself that you are stronger than sin. For your feeling of strength makes you lose vigilance, precision, and caution. It leads you into pride and distances you from prayer, and thus you fall… Did not the Scripture say about sin: “For she has cast down many wounded, and all who were slain by her were strong” (Proverbs 7:26)?

All our fathers lived in poverty of spirit and did not rely on their strength; for all who relied on their strength perished…

Satan said to God: Leave the strong to me, for I am sufficient for them. As for the weak, since they have no strength, they fight me with Your strength, and I cannot overcome them.

God’s help for the weak does not mean that all Christians should be characterized by weakness. On the contrary, Christianity is strength. The believer is a person who can do all things in Christ. Before us is an important rule:

Feel that you are weak in yourself, and very strong in God who works in you. Therefore be careful to maintain the work of divine power in you, through your continual humility.

Your feeling that you enjoy divine power working in you, and not merely human power, gives you greater confidence. For human power can collapse, but the power of God is able at all times to do all things.

From here, the Christian person is very strong, but not by his own strength and personality, rather by the power of God working in him.

Therefore, if you are weak, do not fear your weakness. And if you are defeated by some sin, do not despair of your defeat.

Augustine was weak before sin and defeated, and so were Moses the Black, Pelagia, Mary the Egyptian, and others; but the power of God that supports the weak led them in a procession of triumph. As the Scripture says, “Let the weak say, ‘I am strong’” (Joel 3:10).

The problem of problems is that a weak person thinks himself strong. Lay your weakness before Him and say: The will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find… The evil I do not want to do, that I practice (Romans 7).

You, O Lord, are able to “give power to the faint,” and to cause him to “mount up with wings like eagles.” You uphold the bruised reed and blow upon the smoking flax. You are able to work something through me…

Most sinners who continued in their sin were not frank with God, nor with themselves. They did not lay their weakness before God, nor insist on receiving strength from Him… They did not ask for a new heart, new spiritual weapons, and a divine life working in them.

Do not say to Him: I will leave this sin. Rather say: Give me strength to leave it.

If You do not hold my hand, I will not advance a single step. Without You I can do nothing. Be like the sick person who knows his illness and presents it to the physician to be healed. But if he denies his illness, he will remain in it…

The strongest people are those who feel their weakness and take strength from God. But those who think they are strong are not stronger than Satan, who is more cunning, more wise, more knowledgeable of the human soul, and more experienced in spiritual wars; and none can overcome him except the power of God.

Place the power of God before the wars of the demons. However weak you may be, the Holy Spirit who is in you is able to conquer and to triumph…

---

Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – Seventh Year (Issue Forty-Four) – 29-10-1976

For better translation support, please contact the center.