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Confessing in prayer this simple truth delivers from every bondage of the “should” and brings in the relieving liberty of the “helpless.” What did our Lord Jesus say? “Apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) So by confessing, “I can't,” I simply state my agreement with Him.
We can be so accustomed to our teachers and other authorities telling us what we ought/need to do, then leaving us to go ahead and do it. We can even follow this pattern in telling ourselves what we ought to do. But THE Teacher doesn't operate this way. He tells me what is to be done, or how something is going to be, then He waits for me to let Him do it in me on my behalf. Given this, “I can't” makes the most helpless into the most powerful because “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) It's easy to tell the difference between “I should” and “I can't.” When I feel the weight of my needing to do a thing, or that's it's incumbent upon me to bring something about – when I feel as though I'm “pulling myself up by my bootstraps” right from the start – wearied just thinking about it; that's a “should.” The view from “I can't” is not like this, but rather more like looking back. When I begin with, “I can't,” I get to the end having let Him do it, and all along I don't notice what an incredible thing has been accomplished until I look back and see that He did it in me (because I know I could not have). “I can't” can seem like giving up, but it's not. Rather, it's a transferal of hope from my limited, sin-sick, self to the limitless Author of all creation. The only thing relinquished in “I can't” is the perception of being in control. “I can't” acknowledges that all the control lies with Him in whom all things hold together (see Colossians 1:17). Cast on Jehovah that which He hath given thee, and He doth sustain thee.-Psalm 55:22a (literal) Realizing “I can't” causes me to roll all of my cares, concerns, responsibilities, desires, etc. upon Jesus. “I can't” lets Him sort out what's to be done in/through me and what is not; I'm freed from needing to decide even that! I'm also freed from any obligation to, “I have to”, “I need to”, It would be good if I”, “I'm expected to”, “I must”, “They need”, “I'm determined to”, “I'm supposed to” ... you get the idea. Even something as good as “I have to live the Christian life” is a “should” to be liberated from. I first realized “I can't” when I had to confess exactly that: “I can't live the Christian life.” Ever since then, I've been discovering smaller and smaller things I can't do (apart from Him). Debug a portion of a computer program. Play an arpeggio. Sleep. Even drawing my next breath. Ever since that first realization, “I can't” has been the enabling way for me to do the “all things” in Christ very practically. No matter how noble the aim, the truth of the living Word remains, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” No amount of effort to the contrary will budge it in the least. But as soon as I realize the truth, confessing, “I can't,” He is ready and willing to lift me up on His pillow of grace and carry me into and through all He's given me to let Him do. Then comes the experience of “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” It looks like I did the thing, but I know who really did all the doing. All I did was just agree with Him and go along for the ride. But because of what I know I can only give Him all the glory. “I can't” brings a rest in which everything gets accomplished to perfection; a rest spent in communion with the truest Friend and Lover of your soul.
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Comments
Very good John