Weakness is not a horrible thing . . .

 

Life offers occasions when helplessness is obvious. Aging is part of it along with lack of sleep, exercise, or inexperience. Few relish being weak, at least not like Paul did.

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. (2 Corinthians 12:7–10)

He knew how to live with that helplessness that realizes ‘I cannot do this’ without Christ. Compared to Paul, I’ve had only a taste of what Jesus will do when I admit to Him that I am unable. Right now, the issue is prayer.

I determined to pray more and found out how impossible that goal is without the power of God. These past few weeks have had more distractions, interruptions, excuses, and feelings of ‘I don’t want to’ than any time in my life. It is affecting me in odd ways. For instance, I usually sleep extremely well, but last night could not. Nor could I pray. I felt helpless, frustrated, even angry but with no reasons or explanations. This morning’s devotions offer this:

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9–11)

Did Paul ever feel that his efforts were worthless or that his life was too far below par to receive answers? Did his focus mess with his confidence instead of staying on the glory of God? He never wavered from God’s words to Ananias at his conversion: “But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.’ ” (Acts 9:15–16)

Paul’s persistence makes me wonder if I will ever ‘grow up’ and fulfill that desire to pray without ceasing. Sometimes I wonder if my prayers even matter. However, a 98-year-old woman on my prayer list recently professed faith after years of loudly saying no to God. A family member is now sharing the gospel after a long time of not walking with Jesus. A man whose wife was planning his funeral last week is well and leaving the hospital. All because of prayer.

World events and massive loss of life is beyond me, as is the evil such as moms murdering their babies, families training their children to steal, stuff too awful to put in print. Like many, I often wonder where is God?

Then those verses from Philippians tell me to love with knowledge and discernment, pursue excellence, be pure and blameless, and I feel helpless in this world of ignorant cluelessness. Most seem content with mediocrity at best and pursuing evil at worst. Does the entire world deny Jesus Christ and totally ignore God? Many days I feel trampled by the herd rushing to get through that wide gate that leads to destruction.

MacArthur says, “Being blameless isn’t easy in a world that unashamedly flaunts its sinful practices. You must guard against losing your sensitivity to the heinousness of sin and unwittingly beginning to tolerate or even accept the sin that once shocked you . . . Diligently pursue integrity with a view toward glorifying Christ in all things until He returns.”

Then he points to this, and I am encouraged:

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24–25)

Lord, You do not ask me to live for You in weakness but because of my weakness. I stumble; You pick up. I falter; You are my righteousness. I feel stressed and You grant joy. You tell me to guard my heart, but I cannot — You are my Savior, the strength of my heart and my portion forever. I am a mere and messy mortal who must pray about everything, bring my concerns to You and experience Your peace — and sometimes experience great surprises. If I am to be a person of integrity who is effective for You, it is only because of You and Your grace.

READ: Romans 7 and 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 again. Consider Paul’s conclusion about being helpless.

 

 

I’ve had Sufficient

 

When offered a second helping at the table, a Norwegian friend always says, “I have had SUFFICIENT” and we chuckle, remembering this is her polite way of telling us she is stuffed and could not eat another thing.

Her words remind me of God’s words and what a good reminder, not for when I am stuffed but when I feel empty and without the resources needed for the challenges before me.

Paul said it this way:

2 Corinthians 12:7–9. “To keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations (or to keep me from being full of myself), 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.”

The word sufficient appears only a few times in English Bibles, but the Scriptures are filled with the idea of God being enough, supplying enough, often in contrast with human inadequacy yet also expressing that God’s supply will take care of all needs.

This was true when God called for donations to the construction of the OT tabernacle. The response was so great that Moses commanded, “Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary” and “the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work, and more.” He supplied and they gave!

God promised sufficient supply of crops and other needs and told His people to be generous to others who are in need. Deuteronomy 15:7–8 says,

“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.”

My sister taught me by her example that God is the supply so we can freely give because if we need whatever it was that we gave to others, He will replace it with more. This reality is expressed in Malachi 3:10.

“Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.”

The NT tells me not to worry about tomorrow for today’s problems are sufficient but it also tells me that the grace of God is enough for the issues of life, particularly to serve Him with the right attitude — an attitude given by the Holy Spirit:

2 Corinthians 3:4–6. “Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. The glory of God is almost always the opposite of what human reasoning thinks it might be. That is, His power is not the same as human boldness where our sense of being unable goes away. The verse that says “His grace is sufficient for me for His power is perfected in weakness” means that in order to experience His sufficiency, I must be and feel weak. Weak is defined as being incapacitated by a lack of physical, natural, or any other qualifications. The idea is helplessness, without a sense of any resources at all. If that were not enough of a challenge, God has shown me that when His power is active in me, that sense of being weak remains. Only God’s Spirit and faith is telling me to say or do something but the rest of me shouts that I cannot. By faith, the next verse is the only way to experience God’s sufficiency in such situations; I must be willing, even welcome to being a weak person:

2 Corinthians 12:10. 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.