[First posted March 14, 2014]

Maria Braun, a teenage girl in the Kirghiz Soviet Republic, was arrested in 1966 for teaching a foreign ideology to young children. She had organized classes for preschool and older children to teach about faith in Jesus Christ. Another lady was arrested with her and at their trial the judge sentenced the other lady to five years in prison, but gave Maria only three years because of her young age. Maria demanded the same sentence as her friend, declaring that she was able to bear it. The judge obliged and increased her sentence.

In prison, Maria continued to be a courageous witness of Jesus Christ — for three years. Then she suddenly declared that she had been rescued from faith in Jesus Christ and now believed in herself.

What happened? Some have blamed prison conditions and the relentless Soviet propaganda. Fellow believers saw that she had been faithful during the three years of her original sentence and believed that her pride had led her outside of the shelter of God’s protecting hand.

When we express a desire to be strong Christians, do we understand what we are asking for? Do we realize the danger of believing that we are strong Christians? “I would never do what so-and-so has done. My faith is strong, I have had so much good teaching, I could never fall like that.”

In saying this we step out from under God’s protective canopy and dare Satan to do his worst. He will, and we will fall.

The apostle Paul understood this. “ For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18). He got the message when God told him that His strength was made perfect in weakness. “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).

We do not have courage from within ourselves to do great things for God. Yet when we acknowledge our weakness, He is able to do surprising things through us. May we be humble enough to allow God to surprise us.