2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NIV): 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. 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.” 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.
When given the choice to do things God’s way or the human way, far too many decide to take the human way: the way of human strategy, human strength, human ingenuity. They decide to sidestep (or completely ignore) that ways God has set forth in His word to do the work of the kingdom.
Many of us who read the Bible consistently notice that God rarely does things in the way that we would do them if we were in charge. The important thing to remember when those things come to our attention is that God’s ways are not lower than ours, but are infinitely higher, better, and more effective (cf. Isaiah 55:8-9). For example, when Gideon came to fight God’s battle against Midian with 32,000 men, God told him that he had TOO MANY men to fight effectively for Him. With that many, the temptation to use human strategies to fight would have been overwhelming, and they would accomplish massively less than they could doing things God’s way. So God narrowed those men down to 10,000, and then narrowed those 10,000 down to 300, less than 1% of the original number (Judges 7;1-25). And with those 300 doing things God’s way (they really had no choice; there were too few to do it the human way!) they routed and totally defeated the huge and well-trained army of Midian.
Paul was a strong man, and strong-willed, too. With him there was always going to be the temptation to take the bit between his teeth and begin to run ahead of God in his own strength. So God gave him the so-called “thorn in his flesh” to inject enough weakness in him that he always knew that he wasn’t strong enough to do anything on his own. It rankled him greatly (strong people hate any area of weakness in their lives), and he prayed three times to be delivered from it. That was when God explained to him that He needed Paul to be weak, so that he would not try to rely on his own strength, and so grow conceited over his victories. Just like there was no way Gideon could claim that his huge army had brought him success, but had to give God the glory for the victory, God wanted Paul to always be completely aware that any victory he had was not due to his own strength, or the power of his personality, or his mastery of the Bible, or his rhetorical skills. He would have to acknowledge that every single victory came about because it was God who was working through him, filling his weakness with His strength.
Many people today look at themselves and see only their weakness, their lack of knowledge, their lack of skill, and they figure that they can’t be used by God in any great way for the kingdom. But they need to realize that they are perfect candidates for God to use to accomplish great things, because they are people who will be totally dependent upon God and His power to accomplish all that He has called them to do. And in their weakness, God can be strong to do amazing things!
Father, thank You for Your strength that works so powerfully through the weakness of Your people. Thank You for allowing us to participate in all of the miraculous things You still do in our world. Amen.