Mighty God in Weakness
In 1947, a Bedouin shepherd was herding sheep near the Dead Sea when one wandered into a dark cave. Curious, he did what teenage boys have done for thousands of years. He picked up a rock and threw it into the darkness.
Instead of a dull thud, he heard something shatter.
What looked insignificant turned out to be one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in history. Inside ordinary clay pots were the Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient Scriptures preserved for centuries. God used a broken pot to reveal eternal truth.
That story sets the tone for how God often works.
When God wants to reveal something eternal, He frequently hides it inside something fragile.
This is exactly what Isaiah points us to when he calls the coming Messiah “Mighty God” in Isaiah 9:6. When we hear that name, we naturally imagine strength, dominance, authority. We expect power to arrive loud, fast, and overwhelming.
But Isaiah’s vision refuses to play by our definitions.
The Mighty God does not arrive with a clenched fist. He comes as a child. Vulnerable. Dependent. Weak. And if you follow that story all the way to the cross, you see that His path of strength runs straight through suffering.
This is not a contradiction. It is the revelation.
Jesus is our Mighty God, whose strength comes through weakness.
God’s strength is not displayed by avoiding weakness, but by entering it. The incarnation teaches us that God reveals His power on His terms, not ours. We do not get to choose what God redeems or what He uses to shape us. We can resist what is out of our control, or we can learn to trust that God is working through it.
In many ways, we are like those clay pots.
On our own, we are ordinary. Cracked. Fragile. Yet inside us lives the greatest treasure imaginable. God’s Spirit has made us alive. His Word has taken residence in our hearts. Still, most days we feel more like broken containers than vessels of glory.
That is often because our focus drifts.
We fix our eyes on what is still wrong with us instead of what God has placed within us. And what you fix your eyes on you naturally become.
When we our focus is on our weakness, that becomes our identity.
But Scripture tells a different story. Weakness is not your disqualification. It is the stage God uses to display His power.
Dave Harvey puts it this way, “God breaks the pot to free the power.”
The apostle Paul captured this truth when he wrote, “I carry death, so that the life of Christ may be manifested in me.” The suffering we endure, the limitations we cannot escape, and the circumstances we did not choose are not obstacles to God’s power. They are often the very means by which the life of Christ becomes visible.
This is why the image of Kintsugi is so compelling. In this Japanese art form, broken pottery is repaired with gold. The cracks are not hidden. They are highlighted. What once looked ruined now tells a story of restoration.
That is how Jesus, our Mighty God, works in us. He does not avoid brokenness. He enters it. And through it, He reveals a strength the world has never known.
Jesus does not ask you to be unbroken. He invites you to bring what is broken to Him.
You may feel like a cracked pot. But inside you lives resurrection power.
Jesus is our Mighty God, whose strength comes through weakness.
And that is not just theology.
That is hope.
Instead of a dull thud, he heard something shatter.
What looked insignificant turned out to be one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in history. Inside ordinary clay pots were the Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient Scriptures preserved for centuries. God used a broken pot to reveal eternal truth.
That story sets the tone for how God often works.
When God wants to reveal something eternal, He frequently hides it inside something fragile.
This is exactly what Isaiah points us to when he calls the coming Messiah “Mighty God” in Isaiah 9:6. When we hear that name, we naturally imagine strength, dominance, authority. We expect power to arrive loud, fast, and overwhelming.
But Isaiah’s vision refuses to play by our definitions.
The Mighty God does not arrive with a clenched fist. He comes as a child. Vulnerable. Dependent. Weak. And if you follow that story all the way to the cross, you see that His path of strength runs straight through suffering.
This is not a contradiction. It is the revelation.
Jesus is our Mighty God, whose strength comes through weakness.
God’s strength is not displayed by avoiding weakness, but by entering it. The incarnation teaches us that God reveals His power on His terms, not ours. We do not get to choose what God redeems or what He uses to shape us. We can resist what is out of our control, or we can learn to trust that God is working through it.
In many ways, we are like those clay pots.
On our own, we are ordinary. Cracked. Fragile. Yet inside us lives the greatest treasure imaginable. God’s Spirit has made us alive. His Word has taken residence in our hearts. Still, most days we feel more like broken containers than vessels of glory.
That is often because our focus drifts.
We fix our eyes on what is still wrong with us instead of what God has placed within us. And what you fix your eyes on you naturally become.
When we our focus is on our weakness, that becomes our identity.
But Scripture tells a different story. Weakness is not your disqualification. It is the stage God uses to display His power.
Dave Harvey puts it this way, “God breaks the pot to free the power.”
The apostle Paul captured this truth when he wrote, “I carry death, so that the life of Christ may be manifested in me.” The suffering we endure, the limitations we cannot escape, and the circumstances we did not choose are not obstacles to God’s power. They are often the very means by which the life of Christ becomes visible.
This is why the image of Kintsugi is so compelling. In this Japanese art form, broken pottery is repaired with gold. The cracks are not hidden. They are highlighted. What once looked ruined now tells a story of restoration.
That is how Jesus, our Mighty God, works in us. He does not avoid brokenness. He enters it. And through it, He reveals a strength the world has never known.
Jesus does not ask you to be unbroken. He invites you to bring what is broken to Him.
You may feel like a cracked pot. But inside you lives resurrection power.
Jesus is our Mighty God, whose strength comes through weakness.
And that is not just theology.
That is hope.
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