God's Strength in our Weaknesses

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

A thorn in the flesh was given to the apostle Paul, a messenger of Satan to buffet him, lest he should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations.

There is always a danger for Christian to exalt himself above measure, when he realises that he is abundantly blessed. The more blessed we are, the more danger we are in. We begin to exalt ourselves, and boast of our achievements before God and men.

As Christians, our objective in life should be like that of John the Baptist : "He must increase, but I must decrease." The Lord Jesus Christ must be seen as our Lord in all we have and in all we do. The more blessings we receive from God, the more humbled we should become.

But the opposite is often true when we becomes complacent, and begin to take pride in all we have and in all we do. Like the apostle Paul, some of us are given a thorn in the flesh to humble us. We are reminded often that all we have is from God.

The apostle Paul was blessed with the abundance of revelations. To stop him from exalting himself, a thorn in the flesh was given to him, a messenger of Satan to buffet him. Three times he pleaded with God that it might depart from him. But God refused, and He said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” 

The apostle Paul stopped crying about his thorn in the flesh. Instead, he gladly boasted about his infirmities. The power of Christ is made perfect is our weaknesses. It is when we confess our weaknesses before God that the power of Christ rests upon us. 

The apostle Paul took pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. He understood that when he was weak, God would work mightily in him and through him!

As Christians, we are reminded of the same. Let us stop boasting about what we have and what we do. Let us continue our pilgrimage on earth, bearing in mind that "When We are weak, then we are strong".

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." (Corinthians 4:7)

It is good to remind ourselves that we are earthern vessels for God's use. God will empower us to accomplish His will for us.