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.

Kneeling In Worship

Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.
(Exodus 34:5–8)

To worship is to kneel or prostrate oneself on the ground in recognition of the power, majesty and authority of the object of one’s worship.

Worship is more than just assigning worth; it’s acknowledging that worth is already there.

When we worship God, we are responding to God’s intrinsic majesty and goodness.

That was Moses’ response when God passed by, revealed His glory and proclaimed His name and attributes.

God declared His compassion, grace, mercy, love, patience and faithfulness.

And since God is a God of justice, He also pledged not to leave the guilty unpunished.

The emphasis, though, wasn’t on the Lord’s wrath, power and judgment, but on His love.

When we hear of the goodness, the greatness and the glory of God, worship is our appropriate response.

We bow before Him in awe and appreciation of who He is.

Oh! Let us come now to worship
our Great and Awesome God!