Text: 2 Cor. 12:1-10
This morning I stumbled across an amazing truth found in 2 Cor. 12:8-9, 10. Paul writes, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness… 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.” (2 Corinthians 12:8-9, 10). I have to admit that these words recorded by Paul through the guidance of the Holy Spirit have not always been easy for me to fully comprehend (at least not practically).
We all know that Paul was a true prayer warrior. Our text tells us that Paul being a mighty man of prayer pleaded with God not once but three times to take away the thorn in his flesh. The answer he receives, whether it was in a vision or some inner conviction we do not know, is very clear: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”. How are we to understand this verse?
I believe this verse expresses a principle that is true of life, and God knows it is true that His strength is made perfect in our weakness. In other words there is a divine link between human weakness and spiritual strength. Our spiritual growth and happiness lies in applying this important truth in our daily lives. I think what Paul is trying to teach us is a divine principle that the modern day church has somehow forgotten or even neglected.
In one sense (and often quoted this way) I believe Paul is trying to tell us that God will help up through anything, and I personally believe this to be true. But on a much deeper level it deals powerfully with the question of how we as humans can really submit to God’s will. As human beings and especially as Christians we are constantly under attack from Satan whose primary objective is to break us down in order to leave us feeling inadequate to handle the pressures and the problems that we have. In so doing we are so preoccupied with surviving life that we have no time to turn to God.
One might say that if you feel weak and inadequate, then the devil surely has a part to play. However, it would appear that God uses Satan’s very own methods against him in order to defeat him . In other words, God allows Satan to tempt us into feeling this weakness not only to drive us to our knees and seek Him but also to keep us from adopting attitudes that could render us useless in the work of spreading His kingdom. Paul knew that the worst thing he could do was become arrogant about his calling. It was evidently more important to keep Paul humble (and us for that matter) than it was to make him comfortable, so God allowed the thorn in the flesh to go on(some believe that Paul’s thorn in the flesh was a physical disability of suffering from poor eye sight).
The most dangerous threat to any follower of Christ is spiritual pride. I confess to you that is the thing I fear most in my own ministry (I am a people pleaser by nature and work very hard at having people like me). The truth is we all secretly desire attention and praise. The point I am trying to make is that it is so easy to let people stroke your ego that you start believing that your success in ministry depends on your own remarkable abilities. I have seen a lot of talented people fall over the years because they grew arrogant and boastful about what God was doing through them. God has personally taught me a very important lesson in my own ministry.
This underscores the spiritual battle we are involved in. Just think about it: When is the devil being beaten? Not when we feel great and confident, when it looks like wonderful things are happening in our churches, when the ministry is going well. No, the devil is being defeated when we are feeling attacked, when we feel weak and helpless and do not know what to do, when we are not sure how to respond, when in our perplexities and sense of weakness we come to God on our knees and plead with Him for strength to go on one more day and for grace to help us stand. That is when we are winning and when the kingdom of God is being spread more abundantly than ever before.
Perhaps instead of always dreaming of success we should thank God for those things in our lives that keep us weak and dependent on Him.
“And He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness…”
God bless
Berny