Good Monday Morning, My Dear Friends,
One of the worst things that can be said to someone who is facing illness or adversity is to say that the reason you’re not getting any better, and your life isn’t changing, is because you don’t have enough faith. I don’t believe that for a second, and the reason I don’t believe that is because the apostle Paul had more faith than all of us put together. Yet Paul, a man of extraordinary faith, pleaded with the Lord on three different occasions to remove his “thorn in the flesh,” and it didn’t go away (2 Corinthians 12:8-9). We don’t know exactly what it was, but we do know that it was painful, it was humiliating, and it was debilitating.
Finally, during his third season of prayer, when he was begging God to heal him, Paul sensed this answer from God. God answered Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, and my power is made perfect in weakness.” What God said to Paul is what some of us need to hear today. God said, “Paul, the answer is no. I am not going to remove this from you. But I am going to give you the strength, and I am going to give you the power, and I am going to give you the grace that you need to press on in spite of the fact that this is not going away.”
Literally, that phrase means, “My power reaches its full potential, its full measure, when you are the weakest.” We know that God ultimately used the apostle Paul in a powerful way. Today, people name their children Paul and churches are named after him. In other words, God was saying, “Paul, I haven’t forgotten about you. You are still right in the center of my will. But Paul, the answer to your question of ‘will you remove my adversity, will you change my circumstances, will you ease my pain,’ my answer to you is no. But it’s “no” with a promise. My grace will be sufficient for you.”
So, what do you do when you’re the apostle Paul, and God, whom you are serving with all your heart and soul, says no? This is absolutely amazing. The apostle Paul said, “Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
For some of us, when we bump up against these unchangeable circumstances, we should remember that embracing our inability is a prerequisite for experiencing Christ’s ability. If you believe that God can change your circumstances, but that God has chosen not to, you have the option to receive what it is you’re dealing with as a gift, with a purpose and a promise.
The purpose may yet to be made known. But the promise is, “My grace is sufficient for you.”
God’s power will be made perfect in your weakness,
Bruce Jones, Pastor Imagine Church
