Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
In our world today, weakness is not often, if ever, seen as a good thing. Instead, weakness is viewed as, well, weak. We do not like to admit our weaknesses. We do not want to ask for help. While this is quite often the case in our world today, Scripture teaches something completely different. It is often through our weakness that God makes Himself known to us and the world around us.
We have been studying the life of Samson this week. He certainly had remarkable strength, and it appeared that he could not be stopped. However, his earthly strength was tested, and the Philistines ultimately captured him. God did more in Samson’s weakest moments than He did through his strongest moments despite all of these things. Judges 16 tells us that when Samson was at his weakest point, on the edge of death, God used him to rescue the people of Israel from the Philistines. It was not Samson’s great strength that rescued Israel by destroying the Philistine temple and many Philistine leaders; it was God’s great strength and power.
Throughout Scripture, we read stories where God made His power known through people’s weaknesses. The apostle Paul was one of them, and he talked about one of his weaknesses in 2 Corinthians 12. He told readers that he begged God to take away his weakness three times (verse 8). Each time He asked God to take away his weakness, God said to Paul, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness” (verse 9a). As a result, Paul concluded, “Now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (verses 9b-10). God used Paul’s weakness to make His power known. As a result, Paul was glad for his weakness because God’s power made him strong.
The same is true for you and me today. God makes His power known through our weaknesses. Therefore, we, along with will Paul, can be proud of our weaknesses, and say, “When I am weak, then I am strong.”
In what areas are you feeling particularly weak today? Then, take those areas to God. Acknowledge your weaknesses. Ask Him to work through you and your weaknesses to make Himself known to the watching world around you.
Read 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 (NLT)
This boasting will do no good, but I must go on. I will reluctantly tell about visions and revelations from the Lord. I was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don’t know—only God knows. Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body. But I do know that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.
That experience is worth boasting about, but I’m not going to do it. I will boast only about my weaknesses. If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.
Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
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