“Your ropes are slack; they cannot hold the base of the mast or spread out the flag. Then abundant spoil will be divided. the lame will plunder it, and none will say, ‘I am sick.’ The people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity” (Isaiah 33.23-24).

Whose ropes are slack? Whose ship is dilapidated and run its course? It’s the ship that belongs to the enemies of Israel. It is the nations of this world and their abundant spoil. This shall belong to the weak and vulnerable one day. The lame or Israel will plunder it. They will live in that day completely free from disease and sickness. All their sins will be forgiven because Christ their Messiah died for them as He did for us. 

The longer I live, the more apparent my weakness and vulnerability become. What good I have known, I have forgotten. But if I daily look to God for help, I am able “to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that [I] may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3.18-19). God doesn’t call many who are mighty, noble, and wise. They don’t see that they are vulnerable and lame. God chooses people like me so that He might receive the glory as I reflect His character to the world around me. 

I am undeserving of God’s daily mercy and grace as well. I feel anemic and weakened spiritually. But how I feel and how I am apart from Christ doesn’t change the truth that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is perfected in my weakness (2 Corinthians 12.9). When I am weak, then I am strong. The grace and mercy of God through Christ strengthens weak people to do great things that endure forever. I am more than a conqueror through Him who loved me!

Even my ability to trust God is severely hampered and lame. But even faith that is the size of a mustard seed flourishes with vibrant growth in the hands of my heavenly Father. If I believe, nothing shall be impossible. Even mountains and their foundations are cast into the midst of the sea. My salvation doesn’t find its basis in the strength of my faith. I simply believe and cling to Christ. This is enough. Simply put: “The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3.36). 

One day I shall reign with Christ. I am a man who is lame in so many ways right now. However, I am a child of God. Not one hair falls from head that escapes His notice. He will strengthen me and lead me through the darkness into His marvelous light. One day, I shall walk briskly and steadily down streets of gold, forgiven of my iniquities and glorified in the presence of my Savior. To God be the glory!