The word metamorphosis means to be changed from one form into another. In Hebrews 11, we find famous people such as Moses and David. These men are often described as full of faith and men of God. Yet they were human just like us, they struggled and they had weaknesses. But we’re told that ‘their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle.’ Picture a caterpillar morphing into a butterfly. It starts out slow and slimy and takes hours to crawl a few metres. When it undergoes the process of metamorphosis, however, it becomes a beautiful butterfly. The butterfly’s wings developed as a result of struggling in the cocoon until it broke free. Without the struggle and the process, it never would’ve become a butterfly. We might be struggling with something today. We may feel like we’re in an intense spiritual battle. But it’s our struggles that develop our strength, and our battles that bring our victories. Satan hopes the battles we face will destroy us instead of develop us, so he keeps trying to make us think that we’re losing. When Paul’s life became so hard that he thought he couldn’t stand another day of it, God told him, ‘My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness’ (2 Corinthians 12:9 MSG). Paul responded by saying: ‘It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take my limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size – abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so, the weaker I get, the stronger I become’ (vv. 9-10 MSG). Can we say the same when we’re facing tough situations?
