For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Cor. 12:10
God has the neatest ways of showing Himself in our lives. We humans tend to think we're invincible, that we can do anything "if we put our minds to it." But when hardships come along, we fall apart in our own false sense of strength. Thankfully, it's in those times that God shows us Himself when we are most hurt and struck down. He reveals when we are no longer looking at ourselves as the object of greatness that He has all the strength we need when we abide in Him.
Paul had a weakness. He was probably the greatest evangelist the world had ever seen - he had come out of a life of rebellion against God, and lived and proclaimed the Gospel with an intense fervor I could only hope to emulate in my own life. He went to the Jew, the Greek, the learned and unlearned - his life was about sharing Christ. He had seen triumphs, he had seen failures, faithfulness and betrayal. He understood hardship, and he understood abundance. Paul lived an extraordinary life, by any human standard. But he had a weakness, something that hindered him from reaching what he thought could be his full potential for Christ.
God saw fit to leave this weakness with Paul. It was clear that God had allowed this into Paul's life and it was there to stay. Although Paul may never have understood why this conflict never left his body, he was able to rest in God's sovereign wisdom and perfect way. Paul understood that to be used through weakness was to magnify God's power all the more. It put his life's emphasis on His Master and not him. Paul had plenty to boast about in his own life - but he would rather boast about his great Saviour. Paul was still human, and God gave him an "infirmity" to remind him, as well as others, that the focus was to always be on his True Source of strength. Paul then was at peace with God's plan for His life, even though it included lifelong hardship. He knew that God would make His glory shine through whatever He brought into Paul's life, and so Paul was able to pen "...therefore I will rather boast in my weakness ... for when I am weak, then am I strong."
Paul saw God in his pain. He understood Isaiah 55 when the author wrote, "For your ways are not my ways, neither are your thoughts my thoughts, declares the Lord." Although Paul was never given more reason than "my grace is sufficient," that was reason enough. God's grace is sufficient, even when our human minds do not understand the ways in which He chooses to work in us. He sees the end from the beginning, knows what is best for His purposes, and gives us the grace to live and thrive along the path He planned for us.
God is always good, and His strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore may I glory in Him and not myself, for when I am weak, then am I strong.
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way.
Psalm 37:23
