July 3

“That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” —2 CORINTHIANS 12:10

Sometimes the very things that put us flat on our backs and leave us with a sense of hopelessness are the very things that bring us nearest to God. It is in the areas of our deepest need that God is most real in our lives.

God is never beaten, never outwitted and never out-ranked. He knows our hearts, and if we try to live a façade of “everything is fine and under control”, when it is not, we will never know the experience of God helping us in our time of need. Instead, we will remain independent of Him and left to our own resources. That is why confession is at the foundation of God’s work in our lives. If we acknowledge our situations, our need, failure and sin, Paul says in Romans 8:26, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness.”

Paul suffered from what he called “a thorn in his flesh, a messenger from Satan sent to torment me.” He pleaded three times for God to take it away. The Lord answered, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). The thorns in our flesh may or may not be from Satan, but either way, they provide a highway for God to navigate our way and lead us to where we truly discover His power, His grace and His strength.

Paul writes, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). If we understand how God works in this way, our dependence upon Him is reinforced, and whatever plagues us becomes a means of drawing us near to God so that ultimately we may become a blessing to others. But if we are interested merely in what God will do in me, and not through me, His purpose for us becomes sterile and dead.

We need to get over looking at our problems as enemies, because it is the place where God Himself will step, and drive us back to a fresh dependency upon Him. Our hardships and weaknesses are God’s biggest opportunity to work in our lives when we bring them honestly before Him. Flat on our backs, the only place we can look is up.

PRAYER: Thank You, Lord, for being my strength in times of weakness. You are the rock in my life, and I pray for everyone to experience that. 

TO REFLECT UPON: How has God revealed Himself in my times of need?