Covered Quirks

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Cor 4:7

I am quirky. The other day my writer’s group unearthed my inability to read before audiences. A panic attack melted my voice to a muddy puddle. My joys are to preach, evangelize crowds, pray in public, but please don’t ask me to read. On the way home, I slammed the steering wheel and expelled a primal growl that loosely translated: “Why Lord, why?”

Jesus absorbed my hostile venting into His serene smile. Then He tripped a memory-switch in my head: “Treasure in jars of clay”. While that phrase rattled in my noggin, the Lord made no bones about reminding me I am of earthen mud. Public reading is only one of many things I can’t do. I can’t solve other’s pain, can’t live entirely pure, can’t take wing like a bird, and can’t call a world into existence by my words. So what if public reading expels the contents of my bladder involuntarily? This gets added to the lengthy list of inadequacies where His grace will suffice. If He can do things like hold the stars in their place and erase my sin, it is no big deal to provide for a little public reading.

Exodus says Moses couldn’t speak well (14:10). Galatians implies Paul was nearly blind (6:11). Paul elaborates, “There was given me a thorn in my flesh” (2 Cor 12:7). If Paul’s singular weakness was a thorn then I must have rolled in the cactus patch. But I had barked a question, and God would not leave it unanswered. He showed me the many things I can’t do to clear the way for an encounter with what He can do. Mine will be the thrill of experiencing precisely how He provides for my inadequacies. Instead of slamming my hands in anger, I should clap them in anticipation of what my King is about to do.

Prayer: Father, with joy I release my weakness into Your strength.