Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "Strength in Weakness" for Wednesday, 1 October 2014 - Read 2 Corinthians 12:6-10

Today’s Devotion:
Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "Strength in Weakness" for Wednesday, 1 October 2014 - Read 2 Corinthians 12:6 If I had a mind to brag a little, I could probably do it without looking ridiculous, and I’d still be speaking plain truth all the way. But I’ll spare you. I don’t want anyone imagining me as anything other than the fool you’d encounter if you saw me on the street or heard me talk.
7-10 Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,
My grace is enough; it’s all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.
[The Lord] said to [Paul], “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
- 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
“But it is better this way.”I was surprised to hear those words from my friend Abe, who had just been diagnosed with a disease that could be fatal. At first, he had been devastated to hear that diagnosis. But after he had struggled with it and put his life in God’s hands, he was able to say, “But it is better this way.”Though my friend was not glad for his illness, he was grateful to be reminded daily how fragile life is and that he is constantly in need of God’s grace and care.
In our reading for today, the apostle Paul expressed similar thoughts about his “thorn in the flesh.”Whatever the thorn was, he had considered it a hindrance to him in his work for the Lord and had prayed for God to remove it. But the Lord’s response was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”Paul eventually came to realize that in some ways, “it is better this way.”God’s power is manifested more fully when we recognize our weakness and dependence.
It has been about 45 years since my friend Abe shared the sobering news about his illness. This year Abe turned 90, sustained all these years — physically and spiritually — by the grace and love of God.
The Author: Verner Friesen (Saskatchewan, Canada)
Thought for the Day: God’s grace and power shine in the darkness.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for the many times when our human weakness has revealed your strength in our lives. Amen.
Prayer focus: Those suffering with life-threatening illnesses
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