The Treasure Within – Strength in Weakness

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If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. (2 Corinthians 11:30)

THE STORY OF MY HEART HIDDEN IN JESUS

Not long ago, a friend and I pondered the mystery of how Christ opens our hearts to His strength in our weaknesses and transforms us in the deepest of places. That pondering led to a story, an allegory from my past.

May Jesus bless you as you read the story of my heart hidden in Him.

THE SISTER – AN ALLEGORY

The worn-out case sat in the corner of the thrift store, hiding a treasure—but the treasure within did not look like something worth winning. Both the case and the treasure spoke only of older days and weakness.  Yet, the teenage construction worker eagerly paid his $10 for the gift to take home to his little sister. He had been sweating in the heat as he learned a trade with the Amish workmen, so he was grateful for the respite when they invited him to rest inside the consignment store. The urgency to buy the old case surprised him, yet he could not resist the urging, as if the treasure inside was calling out to him.

THE TREASURE THAT OTHERS MISSED

When the sister opened the case, the tarnished keys and frayed fittings sparkled in her eyes. She could not see the dust or the years of neglect others saw. She only saw the gift and the treasure that others had missed. The parents sent the treasure to an old workman, asking if it was worth repairing. He vowed he would do his best, but in his expert eyes, the treasure appeared beyond saving.

Yet, when the sister received the repaired treasure, her heart began to sing. As she lifted the instrument to her lips, her whole heart was released through those metal keys, the refurbished pads, and a wooden reed. She won contests, played solos, and sat alone in her room, lifting her heart to the maker of all music through this treasure. She amazed the conductor with the music she could make when even he could not produce a sound from its depths—but she knew:

The treasure was a gift just for her.

GLITTERING OUTER SHELLS

The years rolled by. The beauty of her treasure began to dim compared to the sparkle of others around her. She heard of a newer model and laid aside her older treasure. She took up what she thought was expected of her: glittering outer shells and physical strength of her own. Wasn’t that what everyone wanted anyway?

Her heart missed the days of pure inner beauty, but that song now lay muffled somewhere deep in her soul.

She wore masks of outer glitter and strength, even as she protested and spoke aloud about the need to be unmasked. She could not see that she still wore a mask herself.

WEAKNESS IN THE DEEP PLACES

Years passed, and one breaking after another began to peel away layers of her mask. One by one, portions of her ability to be strong (to cement the mask covering her heart) fell away. The weakness in her deep places was uncovered, and she found peace in leaning on her Maker’s chest alone. She asked the Maker to smash those masks. She cried out that she did not want that outer glimmer any longer.

How could it be? Even as she had cried out to the Maker to remove the mask, she still despised the place of weakness she saw in herself. Instead of seeing the hidden treasure within, she saw only the slow, heavy ways of her outer weakness. She heard the music of that treasure echoing in her heart, but it was so faint and barely recognizable. She got up and tried to walk in the old outer strength, as those voices called her the strong one again. Yet, more and more, that strength began to fail her…

THE SOARING PLACE

…until the day the outer strength finally broke. It was then she heard His music loud and clear—the Maker’s song, calling out to her. She wanted to sing with Him, but she missed the old strength. When she looked for that mask, it was gone. The Maker had heard her cry and smashed it to bits so small that even if she had tried, she could never piece it together again. She sat in her weakness and looked up to where the music seemed to swell beyond understanding. The Maker asked her to rise with Him, to soar above the weakness.

She cried. She knew her strength could never lift her high enough to soar with Him—yet He was scooping her up. From within the very place of her weakness, He was carrying her to the soaring place and singing for her. It was all the same music.

The sound of her treasure, the weakest of instruments, joined with the Maker of ALL.

His communion.

His life.

His song given for her.

The treasure was HIM all along. Uncovered and unmasked, the beauty of His singing was clear now as she sang from the treasure within.

If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. (2 Corinthians 11:30)

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

A THRIFT STORE CLARINET

That sister was me (as you probably guessed), and the teenage construction worker was my older brother, the youngest of my three older brothers. He’d found a clarinet in the dim recesses of a thrift store. Recently, I have thought about that gift of music and my older brothers, who loved me through all the changes in my life. All three saw gifts within me that I never saw in myself. When I thought that all they could see was the “baby of the family” striving so hard to be strong like them, they were actually watching over me and caring in a way no one else could.

God had allowed their caring to give me a picture of the One who cares for me in the deepest way possible. Yet, even as I finish this post from within the middle of a pain-filled flare that has rendered my typing down to one-handed pecking, HE sees the beauty of a heart that has found HIS strength to be what I truly need.

THE DEEPEST OF WELLS

Is the Maker of ALL beckoning to you today?

Are there treasures in your heart that only HE can uncover?

WOULD YOU JOIN ME IN PRAYER?

Dear Maker of All,

Thank You for creating us with such longing that brings us into Your plans and purposes. Thank You for planting the gifts and treasures that are timeless and full of Your glory within each of us. Oh, Lord, open our eyes to see the glory hidden inside! Cleanse our hearts, so we recognize the washing of our souls that You have accomplished through Your sacrifice. We ask You to shatter those masks and walls we thought we needed to survive. Show us the beauty of being saved and rescued by YOU, the beauty of letting YOUR power shine in our weaknesses. Stir up Your praise song from the deepest of wells within our hearts.

In the name of Jesus, Your Son, we pray, amen.