Ether 12:27

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness.  I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."
Ether 12:27


It's kind of bizarre to me in this scripture that the reward for coming unto God is to see how imperfect you are. :)  Usually when we turn to people here on earth it is to get a little reassurance, a little validation... but with God, it's to get a little dose of reality. :)  I think that is sometimes why we can start to feel that God doesn't care... because he doesn't deal with us in the same way that our mortal peers do.  Whether we are doing good or evil, whether we are serving the homeless or being absolutely self-destructive, we can find someone to validate us, and to agree with us here on earth.  God only agrees with us when we do good.  That doesn't mean that he doesn't care, it just means that he is the best friend we could possible have... for instead of accepting our limited viewpoints, he challenges them, and encourages us to grow into greater people than we ever realized that we could be.  He is our perfect parent, comforting us and reassuring us that he loves us still when we have done wrong... but never accepting the wrong.  Telling us that we are better than that, and deserve better than that.
So weaknesses... being able to see our weaknesses is a pretty good reward actually.  Once we are aware of a problem, we can do something about it.  Sometimes it takes God's help to do something about it, but he never shows us a weakness without also offering to help us eradicate it.  I think it is pretty nice of him not to show me all of mine at the same time.  That could get pretty depressing.  He gives us weakness so that we can learn humility... and really, a dose of humility is the only thing that helps us reach out to those in need, that gives us the ability to relate to them... that makes us open and vulnerable enough to have positive relationships, with other people and God.  Humility is practically repentance... and makes repentance so much easier.  I think that's why it says that His grace is sufficient for all those who are humble... because then we can see where we need to improve, and how to help others.  The promise at the end is amazing... if we learn this humility, and we have faith... then those weak things will become strengths. :)  very cool.  And someday, all those weaknesses that seem awfully depressing to me now will ALL be strengths... another thing to live for. :)