Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 … Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Devotional: One of the things we learn in Scripture about the apostle Paul is that he had great zeal. It wouldn’t seem that patience or waiting would be high on his list of strengths. And we see in today’s passage, a time when God didn’t answer his prayers as he would have liked.
Paul had a “thorn in the flesh.” Many scholars have speculated about what that “thorn” was, but truly no one knows for certain. But what we do know is that Paul desperately pleaded with God to remove it, and God did not.
Paul’s example shows us that sometimes God is working to do something in you before He does something for you. God showed Paul that his perceived weakness was an opportunity for God’s grace and His power to be on display in Paul’s life.
Paul learned to turn this weakness into a strength when he embraced God’s greater purpose. And it caused him to be able to delight in the dire difficulties he often faced. All for the glory of God.
Reflect:
- In what ways might you be able to embrace God’s greater purpose in your disappointments, bringing glory to God as a result?