A Designed Deficiency

“God plays a game with the soul called ”the loser wins“; a game in which the one who holds the poorest cards does best. The Pharisee’s consciousness that he had such an excellent hand really prevented him from taking a single trick.”—Evelyn Underhill

"You collected the waters of the lower pool, and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago” (Isaiah 22:8b-11).

There’s a natural spring that rises on the east side of the city of Jerusalem. In ancient times it was the city’s only water supply and was located outside the walls of the city and thus was the point of Jerusalem’s greatest vulnerability. The exposed spring meant that the city, otherwise impregnable, could be forced to capitulate by the simple expedient of diverting or damming the spring. 

[At an early stage of Jerusalem's history the Canaanites linked the spring to a vertical shaft that rose inside the walls It was through this tunnel that one of David's mighty men, exploiting this weakness in the Canaanite defense system, gained access to the city (2 Samuel 5:6–8).] 

Much later, King Hezekiah addressed this weakness by driving a tunnel through 1750’ feet of solid rock from the spring into the city where it flowed into the “Lower Pool" (2 Kings 20:20; 2Chronicles 32:2–4). Additionally, he strengthened the defense system around the “old pool” by building another wall that enclosed it. Jerusalem was safe and secure.

But in all of this, Hezekiah "did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.”  Did what? Planned what?  The weakness in the defense system of the city. 

God Himself “molded” the city of Jerusalem in such a way that its water supply was unprotected. The spring outside the wall was a constant reminder that the inhabitants of the city must depend solely on God for their salvation. (If you want to know what happened when Jerusalem, on this occasion, withstood a siege, read 2Kings 18:17-19:37.)

Has it ever occurred to you that your deficiencies were planned long ago for your good, that God made you as you are with your physical, emotional or intellectual limitations so that you could become a man or woman of great faith? Indeed, the apostle Paul said that he "gloried" in his limitations, because it was through weakness that the beauty and power of Jesus was manifest in him (2 Corinthians 12:9,10).

We should then regard each limitation as a gift that can make us more useful in terms of our particular service to Jesus. We can never be too weak for him to use—though, we can be too strong. “Not to the swift, the race: Not to the strong, the fight.”  It is in fear and trembling that we are made strong.

David Roper