2 Chronicles 27:6
So Jotham became mighty, because he ordered his ways before the Lord his God.
Truth: Anchored in God keeps us in the place of strength
The world, today, preaches that we are to operate from a place of strength and not weakness. When we negotiate, we are to use our strengths to "win" in that negotiation. Jotham, the king of Judah, had put God first in his life. He decided to pursue God and that allowed God to make him prosper. Instead of utilizing his own strength, however, he sought out God's strength and operating in that power. His strength was actually a weakness. In the above passage it says he "ordered" his ways before the Lord. Note what the author Vine says about this word, "ordered:"
VINE: This root used concretely connotes being firmly established, being firmly anchored and being firm. The first meaning is applied to a roof which is “firmly established” on pillars. So Samson said to the lad who was leading him: “Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them” (Judg. 16:26). In a similar sense the inhabited earth “is firmly established or anchored”; it is immovable: “... The world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved” (Ps. 93:1). In Ps. 75:3the image shifts to the earth “firmly established” upon pillars. In Ps. 65:6the divine establishing of the mountains is synonymous with divine creating. The verb also means “to be firm”: “And you grew up and became tall and arrived at [the age for fine ornaments]; your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown” (Ezek. 16:7, rsv),
So, Jotham gave up his own strength and, rather, found his real strength by putting his faith in God's Word and in God's power. We can't do that unless we come to Christ in our weakness and admit to Him we are nothing without Him. Paul said it as follows:
2 Corinthians 12:10
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
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