Weakness Is Good...?

"To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But 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. 10That 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 12:7-10

I've read this about 12 times this morning now. "For when I am weak, I am strong." That's just one of those concepts that you read about, and until you go through it, you have no idea how true it is. Sometimes we need to be completely at the bottom of the barrel before we really let God in. It can be so easy to rest in the security of "stuff" of house and clothing and cars. While those things are necessary to live in the world today, they're not our everything. We don't work so hard everyday for the home we live in. I am so thankful for the home we have, there have been instances in the last few months where our landlords could have easily asked us to move. But they've been blessedly patient at times, and God has always come through for us when we needed it most.

I find that I scold myself when we are at a low point. I scold myself for waiting so long to let God take over. Why do I give him my checkbook when there is little to nothing in it, but I am more hesitant to give it to him when it is nicely fattened from all his provision. I do desire for this to change. At the same time though, according to the verses here today, we need the low points in our life too. Those low points are the time when we are most vulnerable, and when we are most open to letting God do a great work in our lives. And I have to say, I'm agreeing a bit with Paul here. He delights in hardships and difficulties. And you know what there is to delight in? We can delight in the fact that we will be out of the hardships and difficulties. As the old song goes, "God will make a way, when there seems to be no way. He works in ways we cannot see, he will make a way for me."

On the other side of this hardship is a new beginning which God has created for us. I pray that his power is shown to us, and to those around us. That through us, people will see his glory and mercy and provision and will know that God IS the provider of all.