Are you weak? - Good
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” - 2 Corinthians 12:9
While we don’t know the Apostle Paul’s affliction, I’m guessing it was significant because he repeatedly asked God for relief. But God assured him that God’s kindness (grace) was active and had not stopped and that his power would be displayed when Paul was weak.
Paul’s all-satisfying dream was that Jesus would be seen in his life. And so, if Paul’s weakness was the doorway through which Jesus would be on display, he wanted the struggle. Is that amazing? Paul decided to embrace his struggle because God would be seen as strong and valuable (and of course Paul would be a first-hand witness to God working).
God’s strength in weakness is the song of the universe. “My grace is enough; my love is enough; my plan is enough; my power is enough.” And our great sin is our natural response to this song – “No, it’s not enough.” This is our story from the beginning in the garden when Adam and Eve rejected the perfect existence with God.
The ultimate example of God’s goodness and power being seen in weakness happened two thousand years ago when Jesus became weak for us. As he went to the cross, the goodness and power of God exploded as salvation for the sinner. The solution to our sin is not in our ability to get it together and see things the way Paul did, even though that would be great, but in Jesus doing for us what we can’t do for ourselves. Jesus, in weakness, became the power of God for us.
Kind Father, you are the source of all strength and all doing, and yet I persist in thinking that I can manage on my own – I’m sorry. Thank you for being patient with me. Please cause me to see my weakness and your strength.
Song: Not I But Through Christ In Me