WHEREVER SIN ABOUNDS THE GRACE OF GOD ABOUNDS IN MUCH GREATER MEASURE.
And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9, 10).
Although God did not remove Paul’s physical affliction, he promised to demonstrate his power in Paul. The fact that God’s power is displayed in weak people should give us courage. Though we recognize our limitations, we will not congratulate ourselves and rest at that. Instead, we will turn to God to seek pathways for effectiveness. We must rely on God for our effectiveness rather than simply on our own energy, effort, or talent. Our weakness not only helps develop Christian character; it also deepens our worship, because in admitting our weakness, we affirm God’s strength.
We don’t know what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was. It was not necessary for Paul to explain it, either because the Corinthian church already knew what it was or because he felt it was not essential to the point he wanted to make with them. The word “thorn” meant a “sharpened stake or pole” used for torture or for impaling people in the first century. Since Paul wrote these words, there has been much speculation as to what this painful thorn in his flesh was. Most Protestant Bible interpreters think it was some nagging physical problem such as epilepsy, malaria, tuberculosis, eye disease, or a disfigurement like a hunchback.
I don’t think the details are important. If we knew the exact nature of the “thorn” we would either discount it or say, “That does not relate to me. I have never been through that.” Or, if we had the same experience, we would identify to the extent that it would be difficult for us to keep an objective perspective and learn what God is revealing through Paul’s struggle. That may be why Paul isn’t more specific about his “messenger from Satan.”
Do you experience the grace of God in your own life? Grace is God’s provision for every single one of our needs in life. It is provision that is there exactly when we need it, just on time. The grace of God to us is based on the saving work of Jesus Christ. The apostle John says of Jesus: “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace [upon grace]” (John 1:16). There is never a shortage of the grace of God, the resource of God. If God’s grace is sufficient to save us from sin and transfer us to eternal life, then surely it is sufficient to keep us and strengthen us in times of difficulty and struggle.
The power of God is expressed through human weakness, “…for power is perfected in weakness.” This may be hard to understand but the reality is God does allow difficulty into our lives so that in our weakness, we will learn to depend on his strength, to be receptive to what he wants to give us, his resources. This is a continuing, life-long process. Literally, the phrase is translated, “My power is being made perfect in your weakness.” Strength that is confident in itself to be strong is weakness in God’s economy, but weakness that knows itself to be weak is actually strength.
Paul learned to boast only in “weakness.” “Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” There is tremendous humility here. Paul is saying, “I am going to remind myself of who I really am in Christ, the need to rely on him and his resources. Then I will understand who I can be and what I can do in life. I am only going to boast in my weaknesses, in times of apparent failure, in times when I don’t think I do very well. That is what I want to boast about because those are the times that the power of God and the glory of God will be most clearly revealed to people.”
Paul says we are to be content in trouble, weaknesses, insults, distresses, persecutions, and difficulties. Now, as long as these things are coming for Christ’s sake, as long as they are coming into our lives because we stand for truth and we live and speak for Jesus, we can be content with it because when I am weak, then I am strong. Paul is saying that when things are tough, when life is difficult, “I really want to learn to be content.” I don’t want to gripe or complain or feel sorry for myself. We need to recognize that this is the best setting for God to work in our lives, because, again, when we are weak, He can be strong through us.
