A woman from church
recently encouraged me that God had equipped me to accomplish certain tasks
that lie ahead.
Her words were “apples of gold in settings of silver” – exactly what I needed to hear.
I munched on that golden
apple, relishing the taste of knowing God had prepared me. I thanked Him for
enabling me.
Social norms immediately
swept through my mind, denouncing my use of the term enabling, but I resisted the taint now associated with the word.
Merriam-Webster lists the following definition for Enable: 1 a: to provide with the means or opportunity … b: to make possible, practical, or easy
… c: to cause to operate … 2: to give legal power, capacity, or
sanction to
The next entry in the MW
dictionary adds an r to the end of enable and the word becomes enabler, the less-than-flattering term
that today bears a load of negative connotations.
Again, I resisted. God
enables us but not in a passively harmful way. He empowers us, strengthens us,
gives us what we need to serve Him and grow in faith.
One morning soon after,
my devotional reading took me to John 6 and the account of people deserting Jesus
because of something He said. He explained to His disciples that He knew even some
of them didn’t really believe.
“This is why I told you
that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him” John 6:65 NIV).
Though surprised to see
the word enable, I was thrilled to
find it. Vindicated somehow.
Of course God enables us.
How else would we have strength for anything?
The choice is ours, the
power is His.
