Weakness...

I have been thinking about some of my weaknesses and limitations lately and feeling so frustrated by them. It brought me to this famous scripture that I want to spend some time thinking about...

Ether 12

27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

28 Behold, I will show unto the Gentiles their weakness, and I will show unto them that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto me—the fountain of all righteousness.

29 And I, Moroni, having heard these words, was comforted, and said: O Lord, thy righteous will be done, for I know that thou workest unto the children of men according to their faith;

Heavenly Father gives us weakness so that we will be humble and exercise faith in Him. What I get from reading this is that if we are humble before God, then we will have access to His grace (Grace is defined as "enabling power". I remember Bishop MacKay talking about grace at a youth conference a few years back and it has still stuck with me.)
Another thing I learned about this scripture is from Craig Merrill. I think once when our families were camping together, we somehow got in a discussion about this scripture. He mentioned that it is interesting that the word used in this scripture is "weakness" and not "weaknesses". I wonder why that is. I know he talked about it again during one of his Sunday School lessons but I don't remember what his explanation is.

Weakness. Heavenly Father intentionally gives us situations that we are not able to do on our own because He wants us to:
1. Humble ourselves before Him
2. Use or Access His grace (enabling power)
3. Exercise faith

Our faith (and trust in His enabling power) in Christ grow as we turn to Him to help us accomplish what He wants us to do. He wants us to realize that, on our own, we don't have the skills, knowledge, ability to accomplish something but with His help, we can do anything.


4 scriptures come to mind....

1 Nephi 3:7

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

Philipians 4:13

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

I never caught the connection (or forgot it) before of the story in the New Testament of Jesus and the five loaves and two fishes.
It is a story of a problem that was insurmountable and the Savior has the solution. Not only does He solve the problem, but there is more left over than the people were able to eat.
John 6:9 (This story is mentioned in all 4 of the gospels, but I like this question.)

There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?

I can't find this, but I will continue to look for the reference, but it is the Old Testament story of the army that was being formed, and the leader was told by God to have everyone that didn't want to be there to go, lappers of water go, and they were left with 300 men so that God could show them that they were successful because of him.

Abby says this reminds her of the story of David and Goliath.

Now that I am on to this, I keep thinking of more that goes along with it.
I am remembering the quote that Shelli has on her bathroom mirror by Pres. Boyd K. Packer:

If you are helpless, he is not. If you are lost, he is not. If you don’t know what to do next, he knows. It would take a miracle, you say? Well, if it takes a miracle, why not?

I also found this scripture by Paul in the New Testament. It is in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10:

7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Well, this is all the time I have for now. I will have to come back to this and finish it later.

Bottom line:
Heavenly Father deliberately gives us situations that we are not able to handle on our own so that we will rely on Him.