My Weakness, God’s Strength

Bible Reading

John 3
Job 42
2 Corinthians 12

Devotional Thoughts:

How many of us are OK to be weak? How about the feeling of inadequacy? I know I don’t enjoy that. In 2 Cor 12:10 Paul says he is content to be weak. Somehow in his journey he had learned to be able to look at weakness from a different perspective. He says, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” He could say that because he had learned to rely on Christ’s strength living/working through him.

In John 3:17 after declaring Jesus to be the saviour of the world, he says these words, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved THROUGH Him.” It’s not by anything we can do, but by his grace (Eph 2:8-9), and through his indwelling life that we are saved. Paul describes his indwelling life as the “much more” of our salvation. We are not just saved from the penalty of sin by his death, we are daily saved from the power of sin by his indwelling life in us! (Rom 5:10)

This is what Job experienced in Job 42:3-6. He had a pretty good head knowledge about God. Throughout the book of Job we see Job expressing his head knowledge. But, when he was weak, and through his weakness, he came to see God and experience God in his life more deeply.

I think that’s the comfort Paul describes in 2 Cor 1:3-5. Through our weakness, through our afflictions, we come to see God himself living his life through us. When we are weak, Paul says, then we are strong, because we are no longer living by our own strength, but by the strength God provides (1 Peter 4:11).

Paul saw his weakness, insults, hardships, persecution, and calamities as opportunities for God to display his power.

Paul’s desire for the Corinthians in 2 Cor 12:14 was, “I seek not what is yours, but you. I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls (like a parent who saves up for their children).”

I want to be the testimony of my life with our orientation students.

Declarations

• My weakness, struggles, hardships, are opportunities for God to display his power through me. Instead of being anxious and worried, I choose to look at these as opportunities for God to be seen. I pray for peace and freedom from anxious thoughts.
• God desires for the story of my life and the story of His working in my life to be a testimony of His comfort and His power, in order to inspire others to believe in Him. I choose today to agree with God and take that perspective for what I face today.