I Can't

Read 2 Peter 1

I can’t, but You can.

This phrase was the topic of a message I heard recently by Andy Stanley. The topic was standing firm in the face of temptation. When faced with a situation you know you can’t handle, he suggests, acknowledge it before the Lord who made you. Because the truth is, I can’t say no. But God can. And He will empower you to act on the NO if you ask him to.

This is a powerful tool to use against temptation, but it’s also a powerful one to triumph over circumstances.

Believe it or not, I don’t actually have it all together. I don’t walk around oozing devotional inspiration from my pores. Between you and me, I came pretty unglued at the grocery store yesterday. There was not a devotional thought in my head as I tried to wrangle my minions and maneuver around the other 40,000 people in the store parking their carts in the middle of the aisle so they could spend 10 minutes debating which kind of canned tomatoes to buy. AND they were out of ground ginger. How in modern America do you run out of ground ginger?

It was ugly. All of it was ugly. The tears when the children couldn’t have candy, the lady in front of me with two carts overflowing with groceries, the rain storm, the traffic… Yuck.

You’ve been there, right? Tell me I’m not alone. I know for sure I wasn’t the only grouchy person at the store anyway.

And then I have to come up with something spiritual for the blog.

The internal war commences. I am not qualified for this! How can I encourage women in their spiritual lives if my own fails me at the slightest test? I literally have nothing to say. I can’t do this!

But I can, I hear Him say.

But you can, I reply.

I have learned by now that I can keep that internal battle raging as long as I would like. The insecurity and inadequacy can spiral out of control easily. Or, I can call on the General.

I can’t, but You can. You fight this battle. You write this post.

Even now, I look at what I've written, and it’s ugly. Can I actually publish this? I don’t know yet. But I do know that when I sat down at the computer this morning, I had no words. None. Just a blinking cursor. I also know that as I thought of each one of you, I typed I can’t, but You can. And something quiet whispered, “She can’t either. But I can.”

I don’t know if you are being faced with temptation that seems impossible to resist, emotional struggles you feel like you can’t overcome, or one more failure that makes you feel completely useless to the kingdom.

Whatever it is that is holding you back from victory, remember.

You can’t. But He can. 

And He will.

To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling

and to present you before his glorious presence

without fault and with great joy

—to the only God our Savior

be glory,

majesty,

power

and authority,

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

before all ages,

now and forevermore!

Amen.

Jude 24-2