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Examples of God uses the weak in the Bible
It pleases God to sometimes use the weak and those who do not qualify to achieve something big and by so doing He shows that victory and success do not come by our might or our power but by His help (Zec 4:6). This strategy of God sometimes helps us to avoid pride and arrogance that arises from victory and success. And it also pricks us to trust and depend on Him. In this article, we are not looking at the moral weakness of the people God used. However, we are looking at people whose strength and capabilities are very little or far weak in comparison to the task they are to execute. Here are some examples where God used the weak to achieve something great:
1. God sent Moses to save the Israelites from Egypt
Moses, at the time God called him into his service was weak and little in his own eyes. Formally, he used to be a prince of Egypt, but he had been reduced to a simple shepherd who tended his father-in-law’s sheep. He had been a shepherd for nearly 40 years, for he might have done the job from age 40 until he was 80 years old. Hence, all the former glory of being a prince had waned to nothing. Aside from the loss of his former glory, he had a speech impediment that disqualified him from becoming a great leader. Aside from his speech impediment, he would not like to go back to Egypt for fear of a death sentence for he had killed an Egyptian and escaped justice into Midian. All these situations as mentioned earlier made the one-time prince of Egypt weak and did not consider himself worthy of leadership. However, God chose this weak Moses and showed his strength in him. References Ex 3:11-12 and Ex 4:1-19.
2. God used Gideon to deliver Israel
At some point in history, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of God, and for seven years God gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other eastern peoples invaded the country to ravage it. They came with their livestock to camp on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and they stole sheep, cattle, and donkeys of the Israelites such that these enemies impoverished Israel so much that they cried unto the Lord. When God came to Israel’s aid to save them from their enemies, he bypassed the tribal chiefs, the experienced warriors, and their likes to choose a simple farmer called Gideon.
Gideon was a simple farmer who was grieving the state of Israel under the oppression of the Midianites. He was no warrior and it was none of his inclinations to go to war or lead men into war against the Midianites. As far as we can see in his account, Gideon was a weak vessel and an unlikely candidate to lead an army into battle against formidable enemies. However, this is where God came in; He chose Gideon, empowered him, assured him, and used him to defeat the Midianites to bring deliverance to Israel. Reference Judges 6:11-24
3. God used 300 soldiers to defeat a great army
Aside from God choosing Gideon to be the deliverer of Israel, how God used a few warriors to defeat a vast army also fits into the description of ‘God uses the weak’. When God gave Gideon the mission to save Israel, he gathered 32,000 Israelites to fight the huge Midianite army of 135,000 men. To prevent pride and vainglory among the Israelites, the Lord commanded Gideon to reduce the size of his army to only 300 men so that all Israel would acknowledge that their victory against the Midianites was the work of God, not their strength.
Gideon and his small army took jars and put torches in them and they came to surround the Midianite camp at night and, at a signal, smashed the jars, blew trumpets, and yelled loudly. Upon smashing the jars, they took the torches and held them with their left hands. So the Midianites woke up to loud noise and saw light displayed all around them. Then they panicked in confusion. In their confusion, they began to fight and kill one another. As they fled, Gideon ordered his army to attack. Finally, the Midianites were destroyed. We see that the army of Israel was weak in numbers, yet God used them to show His strength to defeat a large Midianite army of around 135000 men. Reference Judges 7:1-25
4. God used David to kill Goliath
The next person to talk about is David the son of Jesse. God began to use him when he was a teenager. David was a shepherd and had no experience in warfare. However, he volunteered to duel with Goliath, a giant and the Philistine champion from Gath. Considering the stature and outfit of Goliath, David was no match for him and did not stand a chance of surviving. His height was six cubits and a span. He wore a bronze helmet, bronze leg armor, and a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels. He wielded a spear whose shaft was very heavy (1Sa 17:4-7). However, David wore no armor and wielded no sword or spear; all he had was a sling and his faith; by his faith, he invited God to his side to fight for him. During the duel with Goliath, David used his sling to shoot a stone into the head of Goliath and he fell dead. In this case, God used the weak to show His strength and to shame the strong. Reference 1 Samuel 17:32-51
5. Jesus Chooses His twelve disciples
Today, we know very well that it was a prestige unlike any to be one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. These men became the apostles and the earliest fathers and leaders of the church. They are so blessed that their names shall be written on the twelve foundations of the New Jerusalem (Re 21:14). However, they were simple men and unlearned in religious affairs. They were far below the ruling class of that time and had very little or no political, religious, and social influence. Apart from these, each of them had his own weaknesses too. Yet God used them to spread the message of salvation and to establish, lead, and govern the church (Mt 28:19-20). Their weaknesses and limitations were overcome by God’s power, allowing them to perform miracles and establish the early Christian church.
Conclusion
These examples show that God often chooses the weak and unlikely candidates to fulfill His purposes. This teaches us that our weaknesses do not disqualify us from being useful to God. Instead, they can be a platform for God to display His strength and bring about His plans.