2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (MSG)

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.

Imagine that! Paul was given a great ability and so as to not think too highly of himself he was “cut down” so to speak and given a handicap “a thorn in his flesh”. How many of us would be gracious enough to understand the rationale behind this decision that God made. I often wonder if I would have been able to accept such a thing in my life with dignity and understanding. Would I be able to accept that God knows me and what is best for me?

Sometimes things happen that are very hard to digest (thorns in our flesh) and understand at the time. As I move on in life and encounter challenges (thorns in my flesh) the words that God said to Paul (“My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness”) rings out in my ear so often. It is when I call to mind these words I am able to rise above the challenge and get on with the business of life.

I realize that the thorns in our flesh allow us to cling more to God. They allow us to seek him more thereby allowing his strength to be made perfect in our weakness.

I choose to adopt Paul’s attitude whenever I encounter a situation. I choose as much as possible to not focus on the “handicap” (the problem) but instead on the gift of the handicap. This allows me to  remember that I am a limited human being who needs God because without Him I would not survive.

A lot of times we believe we are the ones keeping us alive when it really is God at work in our lives constantly. Can you see why we need to have those “thorns in our flesh”?

There is so much power in repeating theses words “my grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness”.

It allows me to renew & strengthen my faith in God. The words allow me to surrender to God and allow Him to make His strength perfect in the face of my weakness. It allows me to feel God’s presence as He works though my issues and demonstrate to me His goodness.