About strength through weakness…
2 Corinthians 12:7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly
great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to
torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said
to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness." (NIV)
Much ado has been made about Paul's thorn in the flesh. The facts are that we do
not know what the thorn was and it should not make any difference to us. What is important
is the truth…the truth that when we are weakened, we can be strong in Christ. In ways
we do not understand, Christ comes into our lives and turns what we consider a curse into
a blessing. The specific mechanisms of these kinds of supernatural workings escape us.
What must not escape us is that when we take our weaknesses to God, God does something
with them…for us…and with us. God works in our life when we least expect it and
in ways we do not understand…all to His glory. We all have weaknesses. If we do not
understand, comprehend, and face our weaknesses then we are blind and will be easily
blindsided by Satan and his messenger minions. In no part of our experience, in this plain
of reality within which we live, is weakness made perfect into anything except by God.
When you are honest with God about a weakness you have, God will bless you and keep you
because you were honest. However, God does not stop there. God then goes on and takes the
weakness, the fault, the deficiency, or the shortcoming, and turns the weakness into an
asset for His work. In sum, there is power in weakness.
