Weakness is a good thing...

Every time I hear someone talk about a “thorn” in their side, they are talking about an annoying person that they have to live or work with. They complain about the irritation and consider themselves a victim. However, yet the source of the label “thorn in the flesh” has far more behind it than being irritated.

This saying comes from 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. I’ve often thought this passage contains one of the most important yet unknown and unpracticed reality in the Christian life.

It says: “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.”

The Bible doesn’t identify Paul’s thorn. It could have been a physical problem, but some think that it is a demonic being used by Satan to influence someone Paul knew, maybe an enemy of the Gospel. Whatever it was, God allowed that “thorn” to be there for a reason.

Most of us, me included, want the thorns out of our lives and, like Paul, ask God to remove them. I’m almost certain that most of us miss the point (no pun intended) of what God is doing. He hasn’t made a mistake by putting us in a tough situation or with an antagonistic person. In stead, He wants us to learn an amazing reality; weakness is a good thing.

Before I became a Christian, I was capable of handling anything, and if a problem was beyond my abilities, stubborn strength saw me through. The experience of a failed marriage knocked me off my perch. In that weakness, I was ready to at least listen to God.

At first, He simply loved me, but over the next years and to this day, He keeps showing me that being weak puts me into a unique place. Here, in weakness, I can experience grace, power, and strength from Him.

In Paul’s life, the thorn was to keep him from exalting himself because of the amazing things God was showing him. My thorns are here to keep me from relying on my human strengths. I’m hard to convince, even though Jesus said, “Apart from Me, you can do nothing.”

That “nothing” is about the will of God and things of eternal value. I can still write a story, paint a picture, figure out a problem, and balance my cheque book, but I cannot accomplish anything that changes the eternal destiny of someone, or makes me more like Christ apart from His grace and power. This happens only when my strength gets shelved, made weak, put out of the way. Then He is not hindered and can do His work through me.

I’ve learned that thorns in the side have a purpose. Fighting them means I could be fighting God. Instead of begging for relief, I’m learning to seek His strength. What does He want to do with me? How can His power be seen? He will work and He will use me, but not through my strengths but my weaknesses. This is a huge lesson that many Christians never learn. All of us want to be strong and enjoy that feeling of strength and confidence. We don’t like being weak.

That points to another part of the reality that is not in the verses, but it is nonetheless true. It is about how I feel when God’s grace is sufficient and He is giving me His strength. While others tell me that God has used me, I’m mostly unaware of that. All I know is how weak I feel, how unable I am. Logically, if God is giving me strength in my weakness, it seems I should feel His power surging through me, as the verses indicate, but that is not how it works.

We walk by faith, not by sight. We think the power of God in us will produce great self-confidence, the same kind of self-confidence that our own abilities give us. The great secret is that when I am weak, I feel weak, and if in that weakness I obey God, then His strength shines forth, but I don’t even see it.

I’ve assumed He has good reasons for doing things this way, but the only one I can think of is that the grace He pours on me in weakness is for other people, and not for me anyway.

Update: Bob felt well enough to go to church yesterday, but he noticed that singing took a lot of energy and had to mostly "mouth the words." He also noticed that talking was tiring, and even though being there blessed him, he understands that he needs to limit social interaction for a little while. This is going to be difficult for him. Even though the damage is not extensive, the doctor said his heart will take 4-6 weeks to heal.