SUFFICIENT GRACE

SUFFICIENT GRACE

II Cor. 12:8-9a Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.”  NLT

       This verse is familiar to most of us.  Most of us have been reminded of it many times.  Let us not let our familiarity of it take away from us its powerful message to us.

      The Apostle Paul was very intense and had suffered much for Christ.  His whole life was a life of service.  He had some kind of a problem that he wished he did not have.  Speculation is that he had poor eyesight, but the Word does not tell us.  Whatever it was, Paul asked the Lord for healing three times.  He did not give up or stop believing that God could, and maybe would, heal him. 

      Notice that Paul’s prayers were not casual prayers.  He begged the Lord to heal him.  It was something that Paul wanted the Lord to do from the depths of his heart.  He saw his problem as a liability and not an asset.  He believed that he would be better able to serve the Lord without this problem.

      However, the Lord knew better than Paul about what he needed.  The Lord denied Paul’s request.  He knew that he would be better glorified through Paul’s limitations than through his strengths.  The power of God is seen more through our weaknesses than it is through our strengths. 

      The Lord also knew that we are at the best in our faith walk when we are aware of our weaknesses.  When we focus on our strengths we tend to rely on ourselves instead of the Lord.  So, God did not take away from Paul his weakness.  Like us, Paul needed to be constantly reminded of just how much we need to depend on the Lord.

      When the Lord works through us in spite of our inabilities and limitations, He gets the glory and not us.  It is not what we can do that matters; it’s what He can do through us that matters.  He is the one who matters, not us.  We must understand this important truth.  It is Christ who must be glorified and honored, not us.  We must learn to lean on His strength, not our own.

      All we need is the Lord.  He can and will work through submissive hearts regardless of our limitations.  Don’t let Satan convince you that you are of no good to the Lord because of your inabilities.  We are most usable when we rely on His strength and not our own.