BOOK REVIEW
“Weakness Our Strength: Learning from Christ Crucified”
By John Hindley
Published by Union Press, 2024
I started this book during a six-week sabbatical from my role as Pastor. I went into both the sabbatical and the book a little tired, a little worn out, and longing for some rejuvenation. As I sit today in my office typing, I am three days away from the end of my sabbatical, and honestly, I don’t feel too different than I did six weeks ago. Still tired, still worn out. And yet, I am excited to return to the pulpit. I am ready to go, like a horse in the starting gate. Not because my weakness has been suddenly turned into strength, but because I have been reminded through these six weeks that my weakness is a chance to witness and experience HIS strength.
That may seem like an obvious truth, especially for a pastor, but somewhere along the way I forgot it. Thankfully God is in the business of reminding us of the important things that we too often forget, and thankfully there are people like John Hindley writing honest and Christ-centred books that become tools in God’s hands.
All that to say, I have found “Weakness Our Strength” to be a tremendous book for several reasons. Right from the beginning John writes in such a transparent and relatable way that every paragraph feels like a coffee with a friend, and with a friend who is going through what I am going through. He also writes about biblical truths in such a simple, straightforward and Gospel saturated way that every chapter feels like its own devotional experience. It is not a long book, but it took a six-week sabbatical for me to read, having to keep setting it down in order to pray and open up the Scriptures.
I came away from “Weakness Our Strength” with one simple revelation. One that is all over the pages of the Scripture, and yet one that I forget so quickly. One that has made my sabbatical everything I prayed it would be. Simply this, that God is my strength.
Weakness proves to be a beautiful thing when it brings us to, “rely not on ourselves but on God” (2 Corinthians 1.9). Because then and only then can we know true strength. God’s strength. As the apostle Paul so perfectly wrote, “For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12.10).