But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV)
This Scripture from the Apostle Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians is one of my many personal favorites.
Our heavenly Father is able to do anything and everything. Yet, Paul asked Him three times to take his thorn in the flesh away from him, but God’s response to him was “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Sometimes it is easy to think of any affliction that we endure as solely the will of Satan, the enemy of our souls, but this Scripture sheds some light on a very important truth. Any affliction does come upon us from Satan’s hand, not God’s, but Satan does not have free reign to do anything in our lives that he pleases. “… the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4 NIV) Once we’ve welcomed Jesus into our lives, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us. He is infinitely greater than Satan.
Sometimes God does ALLOW us to experience some difficulties for a purpose. Anything that God allows us to endure is motivated by His tremendous love for us. 1 Peter 1:6-7 says. “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
In Verse 7 of this passage from 2 Corinthians, we are told that God allowed this thorn in Paul’s flesh to keep him from becoming conceited, as a result of the great revelations that he was receiving from the Lord. God had a purpose for allowing this into Paul’s life.
Have you ever given any thought to a possible “thorn in the flesh” in your life? If so, can you think of any possible reason why God may have allowed it? If not, I encourage you to prayerfully consider this. God’s love for you is perfect, and His ultimate plan for your life is that you develop to become more like Jesus.
Throughout my own life, I have known my share of physical issues; past and present. Resulting from the physical afflictions, I have endured some emotional and spiritual ones as well. I’ve spent a lot of time longing for healing in my physical body, and I still desire to have that. I remain in faith that the day will come when I do experience that healing. However, God has not put me or my entire life “on hold.” Notice that He says, “My grace IS sufficient for you…” (Emphasis mine) God’s undeserved favor is on me, this very day. I don’t have to wait for it – it’s mine TODAY.
I’m sure there are theologians out there who would be able to write book after book about God’s Grace. My story is simply that each and every day, I live in the awareness that God’s hand is upon me. He goes before me and prepares the way ahead, and He goes behind me to be my rear guard (Isaiah 58). He blesses my life in ways that amaze me, and enable me to see through human eyes, how awesome He is and how small I am.
I am often met with compassionate responses from people when they see my physical challenges, but there is so much more to the story of my life than anything physical. God extends His undeserved favor upon my life every day. First and foremost, I know where I will spend eternity because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, I am surrounded by love from family and friends, I have a life in ministry that I never thought would ever be possible, AND I am learning daily to appreciate the abundant life that Jesus came to give me (John 10:10). Because of my obvious weaknesses, His strength is more evident through me. He truly enables me and gives me strength to accomplish things that would humanly be impossible.
My prayer is, “Heavenly Father, thank you for giving the strength that I need to persevere and overcome life’s trials. You are my source of strength through everything. Please help me to be more aware of Your Grace in my life. Please help me to show Your Grace to everyone I meet. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”
