2 Corinthians 12:10 AMP
[10] So I am well pleased with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, and with difficulties, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak [in human strength], then I am strong [truly able, truly powerful, truly drawing from God’s strength].
Context will help us understand the relevance and importance of Paul's attitude to tough and unpleasant situations. At the start of the chapter, he speaks of himself in the third person, identifying a man who was caught up to the third heaven, or as he also mentioned, the place called Paradise. While he was there, he heard things that were too sacred to tell. Of course, were it to be any other person, the amazing experience could lead to pride, or to a sense of spiritual superiority. It is the way of the natural man to ascribe special attention to unique experiences that are not common to other people. Could it be this is the reason why some people never get to see into the realm of the supernatural? God is Omniscient and knows us more than we could ever know ourselves, and because He is invested in our eternity, He will bring our way only that which will do us good. Can God trust me with deep revelations of what is ahead?
As Paul also said, the God who knew him had to also help him by keeping him from pride and eternal destruction. As we know, pride of any kind will deprive a man from entering into eternity with God. To help Paul, it was recorded that a thorn in his flesh was given to him, in order to keep him from thinking of himself as important. What insight! What a God!. What love for man is this? Man may not even be able to see what is right in front of him; how much more would he be able to see what has eternal implications for him. God had to help Paul by keeping him in check. It is still the same God who is watching out for me today. He wants to show Himself strong in my life, but I have to surrender total control to Him. I cannot insist on my own way, and still insist that God deals with me in His own way. It must have been quite inconvenient, maybe painful, for Paul, because he asked God three times to take away that thorn in his flesh.
God's response drives the focus of the verse above. Instead of taking away the thorn, God gave grace that was very sufficient for every inconvenience that the thorn would bring. The grace of God gives enablement that nothing and no one else can secure. As we consider the life and impact of Paul, we know more of the workings of grace in his life, than the limits that the thorn could have brought. Paul could say he was pleased with weaknesses, insults, distresses, persecutions and difficulties, all for the sake of Christ. This position does not come from a place of human strength; it is the product of a life that God has worked on, and is in total control of. A man does not speak like this unless he has tasted of the grace of God that enables a man run faster than a chariot, and do exploits that clearly could not have been done by virtue of only money, influence, connections or position. When I am weak by human standard, I lean on the grace of God that gives strength. He wants to help, but He will not force Himself on me, or go against the exercise of my freewill. Would I let Him work in me that which will secure eternal life for me? God's time of favour is here.
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