2 CORINTHIANS 12:1-10 – “I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses— though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 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.”

THEME OF THE DAY: KNOWING OUR WEAKNESSES.  Today’s scripture is familiar to most Christians. The Apostle Paul is taken to heaven.  He sees and hears things that overwhelm the human soul.  And left alone, such revelations would fuel pride and a boastful heart for receiving such privileges.  Well, as we know, God will have no prideful and boasting servants, so Paul is given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to keep him from being such a pride-filled and boasting servant.  It hurt the great apostle to the point he pleads for its removal. And the main lesson in this text is God’s answer to Paul and us – “My grace is sufficient for you”.  But there is another lesson; a lesson that must take deep root in our hearts and minds if we are to experience the sufficiency of God’s grace. It is the lesson of realizing just how weak we truly are. Without knowing our weaknesses, we will not know the strength of God’s grace.

Three times we find the noun “weaknesses” in today’s passage.  First, God declares His powerful grace is only known through weaknesses – “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”. The next occurrences are from the Apostle Paul boasting in his weaknesses and then being content in them – “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses”.  These are the places God takes us – to be content and embrace our need for His grace, or to rightly see where our weaknesses take us – totally dependent on Him.

God has many ways to show us how weak we are and let me take us to one common to all.  We are created to be dependent creations on our God.  When sin entered the human experience, we became independent, and that is where all misery came into being.  We cannot live life alone. We need God, His grace, His power, His promises and His Presence. But we are slow to see this, and the one area God will show us how weak we are is in the futile attempts we make to control or change circumstances or people in our lives.  Few things show us our self-sufficiency than in these areas.  When we learn we are not independent but dependent, we experience the sufficiency of His grace.  So, don’t rebel against God showing us our weaknesses especially in the area of control and change. It is His way for us to know the joy of His all-sufficient grace!

PRAYER: Father, help me not to rebel against Your work of showing me how weak I am in and of myself.

REFLECTION: We will never experience the all-sufficiency of God’s grace till we see our total insufficiency.