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.
2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV
The Context:
There is a wisdom that man cannot comprehend, no matter how learned, exposed or mature he is. Why would God show some people some amazing things, and still ask them not to speak of them to anyone? We see Paul here, one of the very few men who saw paradise and some unspeakable things, yet not permitted to speak of the things he saw or heard. We can debate the reasons, or we can focus on the lessons of this experience. Paul was a learned man; learnt under the best at his own time. He was a reasonable and logical man, so you would expect him to logically process what he had seen or heard.
This is where experience meets encounter. When a man has seen or heard God, you realise that nothing you think you know or have matters. We have seen unschooled, unlearned men like Peter and John turn their world upside down for Jesus. Today, we see men and women who, by the world's standards, aren't your regular intelligent folks, move the world by the strength of their encounter with Jesus. The same God who met those men in their own generation has not changed at all; He is still seeking men who will come to Him as they are: no pretence, eye-service or hypocrisy. Can He expect me to come, or am i self-sufficient in my own ignorance?
The Message:
This is where God is not man. God had no problem showing Paul the amazing things, but in His wisdom and purpose, He gave Paul a reminder that whatever he was, saw or knew, it was as a result of God's hand upon him. It had nothing to do with Paul's eloquence, pedigree or circle of influence, which Paul talked about a few times, but it was all about grace, abundant in its supply, undeserving in its application, and difficult to understand in its choice and targets.
No man can come to God claiming a right to this grace, yet it is available for free to all men, no matter what the past or the present looks like. Even this Paul is a lesson in the non-rationality of grace: a man who had led the killing of people who believed in Jesus at the time, and who was the liaison officer when Stephen was being stoned to death. By man's standard, this should not have been a worthy recipient of grace, but if we have learnt anything about God, you know He does not do things the way the world understands it, but the way it lines up with His will and eternal purpose.
To keep Paul from being filled with a sense of his own importance, a constant reminder of his mortality and humanity was put in his body to torment him. Sounds harsh, but this is a time when God's ways require me to sit down at His feet and learn whatever He reveals about His ways to me. Why didn't the other apostles have this thorn in their own flesh? James was put to death by Herod, and there was no drama; the same Herod arrested Peter and we see what happened to Peter, the guards and Herod himself. Why does it appear that God deals with men in so many different ways? The one and only answer that will fit this narrative is this: in God's perfect will, His ways of dealing with each of his servants differ. He knows the end from the beginning, and like Peter, I can make all the promises not to deny Him, but when the trials come, it is his grace and dealings with me that will help me stand.
Oh, Paul begged God thrice to take it away. We don't hear Paul complain about anything personal in all his letters except this one time so it must have been hard. God's response is both hard and pleasant at the same time: I won't take it away but I will give you something of me that will make it worthwhile. I will leave the pain in, but I will also add something of mine that will keep you focused on me, not the pain. It is hard, but with God, eternal purpose is everything. Do we know what Paul could have been if he could breeze through life without the thorn in his flesh? Would he have been so dependent on God if he had no thorn in his flesh? We don't know, but if God allowed it, be sure that there was a purpose behind it.
The Response:
What do I do when I have asked God several times for something and it appears He is silent or He is not dealing with it the way I want? Would I still hold on? What do I do if He leaves the pain in even when He sees that I am suffering? The one thing that He guarantees for me is the kind of help that man cannot give me and man cannot guarantee. He never promises me the comfort and convenience that the world defines. The sort of comfort that God gives is the type that helps me face up to trials with joy in my heart. Even when the pain rises, my hope in God and the sufficiency of His grace also rises.
And that was Paul's response: I will keep talking about my weaknesses. I will let it be known that whatever it is I do isn't by great strength but by grace. When a man recognises his weakness, he is available to be helped. God's power is defeated and limited in me by self-sufficiency and pride in knowledge, achievements, possessions or connections. It has to be total, absolute and complete dependence on God. Can I repeat Paul's words here so that I can get God's response here? Is my life a visible and audible expression of God's grace? His time of favour is here.
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