The bright red numbers on the clock taunted me just as they had every night that week. 3:30 a.m. It is not an hour that anyone should be wide awake. But I was, again. For months I had faced sleepless nights, fatigued days, and unpredictable emotions. And that’s not even counting the hot flashes and many other side effects of menopause. But I was only 29. Women in their late-20s are supposed to be busy, productive, and alive, not lethargic and weepy. Yet here I was forced to deal with my medically induced limitations, all in an attempt to preserve my fertility. Frustration and discouragement washed over me as I struggled to catch a few moments of sleep before my alarm woke me at the crack of dawn.
Whether we admit it or not, we are often limited in what we can or cannot do. If we are parents of young children, we have limitations in our time, sleep, freedom, or all three. If we are married, we are limited in our ability to do something on a whim. If we have a cold or the flu, we are limited in physical activity. But sometimes our limitations come in more painful forms. If we are suffering from cancer, we are limited by chemotherapy and radiation. If we are going through menopause, we are limited by our unpredictable hormones and changing body. If we are paralyzed or physically disabled, we are limited in even the simplest of activities, like fixing our own lunch. Sometimes our limitations can be discouraging and overwhelming.
That is what I had to admit that restless, sleepless night many months ago. Whether great or small, our humanity ensures that we will have limitations. So where do we go from here? If you are discouraged, overwhelmed, or just downright hopeless about your limitations and weaknesses today, hear this simple but profound encouragement from God.
Limitations Are Normal
While it would be easy to attribute every limitation we face to that fateful day in the Garden, some of our limits are inherent in our humanity, even before the Fall. When God created us, he made us in his image (Genesis 1:26-28). But he did not make us exactly like him. We see this most notably in the limits God placed on Adam and Eve in the Garden when he told them not to eat from the forbidden tree. We also see this in the very fact that he created men and women differently (Genesis 1:27). Adam needed Eve for the creation to be complete (Genesis 1:18). We bear God’s image, but it is normal for us to be limited in some capacity as his created beings. Adam and Eve’s limitations were not tainted by sin. The limitations reminded them to worship the God who made them for his own glory.
Unfortunately, because of sin, our limitations do not end with creation. Things changed when sin entered the world. Now our limitations no longer simply remind us to worship our Creator. Now they tell us this world is broken and decaying. From physical disabilities to hormonal imbalances, this world needs redemption. And that is one reason why our limitations can be helpful.
Limitations Teach Us Something
Created in the image of God, we learn from our limits that God is God and we are not. We serve a God who has no limitations (Psalm 121:4). When we need sleep because of another restless night, he does not. When we’re exhausted after a long day with busy toddlers, he keeps working on our behalf. When we face another day hugging the toilet as chemotherapy runs its course, he is never weary or defeated. When we despair over our inability to move without artificial help, he is our rock and our sustainer.
And finally, in our limitations we learn much about what is to come. In the most discouraging moments we have hope that there is a perfect world coming, one where suffering, disappointment, and loss fade away in the face of our glorious King Jesus (Revelation 7:9-17; 1 Peter 5:10-11). If we were not given limitations, loss, or suffering we might become comfortable with life on this earth. Only when confronted with difficulty do we begin looking forward, longing for a better life. As Christians, our limitations move us forward to that glorious day, when our faith is made sight, every tear is wiped from our eyes, and we are with our Savior forever.
Limitations Are a Gift from God
In our limitations, God gives us exactly what we need in order to make us more like him and prepare us for glory. But there is also another way he uses our limitations. He uses them to bless us.
I once heard a pastor say that our very limitations often unlock our usefulness for God’s glory. God uses our trials, disappointments, and even our sufferings to make us productive in his kingdom. So while the world sees broken, distressed, and hurting people as inconsequential, God makes his people weak in order to strengthen them by his power.
Consider countless characters from the pages of the Bible. Many of the most useful people in God’s story were the ones the world deemed unworthy, weak, and useless. Why? It’s the principle that Paul picks up in the New Testament: God chooses the weak ones to shame the strong (1 Corinthians 1:27). The wisdom of God takes weak, broken, limited people and fits them for his glory. Of course the world does not understand, but that is the point. God is pleased to shame the wise to exalt the weak.
Only when we begin seeing our limitations as gifts, rather than hindrances, can we begin to better understand God’s goodness in his plan for us. God knows the extent and end of our limitations, and he makes no mistakes. Every limitation we face comes from a loving and gracious heavenly Father who only has our best interests in mind. And he is with us every step of the weary path, holding us up and bringing us home.
The key to embracing our limitations is not found in our own strength, as if mere willpower would be enough to carry us through. Rather we find the key to our strength in the strength of Another—the God who loves us dearly. That is how we face the trials, disappointments, limits, and sufferings. We trust in the God who made us, saved us, and loves us enough to walk with us even in the darkness.
Is there enough evidence for us to believe the Gospels?
In an age of faith deconstruction and skepticism about the Bible’s authority, it’s common to hear claims that the Gospels are unreliable propaganda. And if the Gospels are shown to be historically unreliable, the whole foundation of Christianity begins to crumble.
