Perhaps one of the most difficult things for man to come to grips with is impotence. (And I don’t mean the Viagra kind…) When we are given to see what is happening around us, yet we are powerless to do anything at all about it, the need for humility before the power of God is awakened. Such lessons have a great potential for being extraordinarily painful, for we so easily forget that control over our own lives is no more than an illusion. When we intensely feel that we are not in control, frustration, depression, impatience and despair can quickly overwhelm us.
One of the most thorough ways of learning this lesson is by raising children. When they are young, it is both easy and imperative that we exert control over their lives; as they grow, our control over their lives diminishes more each year. Sometimes the pain of being unable to keep them from harm is excruciating, no matter how insignificant that harm may be in the grander scheme of things.
But most of all, when our lives experience significant upheaval--when we are faced with the inability to know how to plan our lives--and we must trust not only in God's will for us, but also His timing, the only answer is a bonecrushing lesson in patience and faith. These are the times that try men's souls, said Thomas Paine, and he knew what he was talking about.
This too is a gift we can lay on the altar of our personal sacrifices. Humility is really a long-lost little sister who must be embraced with joy, however bittersweet. For we must remember that when it is God’s will that opposes us, it is for a very good—if unseen—reason. To bear good fruit, a tree must be trained and pruned; just so are our lives in the Master’s hands.
And so we give thanks for the lessons that impotence brings us and learn to love the scourges of the Lord.
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