Working in Weakness

Working in Congo is a constant reminder to me of just how weak I am. I want to be in control, to have things go smoothly and to wind up feeling accomplished. But Congo is not that way; things that would take a day elsewhere take a month here and it is almost always completely out of my hands. Corrupt officials and years of failed government make simple border crossings with relief supplies into a nightmare. What other countries would welcome for the sake of their suffering population, Congolese officials see as an opportunity to fill their pockets. And so, I have spent the last few weeks feeling quite powerless to change the predicament I find myself in – how do I get the supplies that people need to them?
The other reason I feel weak is due to the enormity of the suffering taking place around me. Almost daily I get calls asking me when I will be able to deliver supplies to displaced people and often with these calls are stories of attacks on yet another village by the LRA. I hear the stories of houses being burnt, people being murdered and children abducted, and I feel helpless in the face of such evil and suffering.
The apostle Paul wrote of rejoicing in his weakness. He could go through a list of all of his accomplishments and at the end he called them nothing; it was his weakness that he rejoiced in because in his weakness Jesus’ grace was evident in carrying out good deeds for God’s glory. I am reminded by this that the work I am doing is not my own, but that I have been called to these good deeds for the glory of the One who called me and in my weakness He is strong. It is hard being weak, but at the same time it is a blessed avenue to let the glory go where it is due.
In the west we place enormous value on personal accomplishment, but in the economy Christ’s Kingdom value is measured by obedience to the call of the King; a call which we must never forget is the call to carry the cross, to daily lay down our own desires and ambitions so that our resurrected Lord can live out His will in our lives. Often this means being weak; often carrying the burdens and sorrows of those around us. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book The Cost of Discipleship put it this way, “The disciple-community does not shake off sorrow as though it were no concern of its own, but willingly bears it. And in this way they show how close are the bonds which bind them to the rest of humanity. But at the same time they do not go out of their way to look for suffering, or try to contract out of it by adopting an attitude of contempt or disdain. They simply bear the suffering which comes their way as they try to follow Jesus Christ, and bear it for his sake. […] They stand as bearers of sorrow in the fellowship of the Crucified: they stand as strangers in the world in the power of him who was such a stranger to the world that it crucified him. … The community of strangers find their comfort in the cross, they are comforted by being cast upon the place where the Comforter of Israel awaits them.” (Bonhoeffer 109)
I have spent much of the last few weeks waiting on officials who are keeping relief supplies from being delivered to needy people. It makes me very angry and it also makes me feel helpless in the face of people’s greed and indifference to others’ suffering. However, we press on because we know that we are called to this work and that our Father is not indifferent to the suffering of his children. We wait and feel the pain of those who are waiting in hope that we will bring a tiny amount of physical relief to them and we press on because we know that we are not alone in this struggle; we have a King who is familiar with this world’s evils and understands the suffering we see each day.