His Grace is Sufficient

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (TNIV) ⁷ Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ 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. ¹⁰ 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.

This is a beautiful, yet difficult lesson to learn from the apostle Paul.  

There are times in life when each of us have a thorn lodged in our flesh. It may be an addiction, an illness, a stressful job, an unhappy marriage, a mountain of debt or a chronic injury. With God’s help our conditions can improve, but the thorn may remain as a gentle painful reminder that without the power of God in our lives, we are nothing. It is by His grace alone that we can be free of addiction, illness, injury and stress and find joy in living free of worry. 

This time of year about nineteen years ago, I told God that he gave me too much to handle. Within a period of three months, we experienced the Northridge earthquake, were overwhelmed with debt and lost our only son, Austin Patrick. With certainty, God got my attention, but angry and hurt I turned my  back on him for a long while.  I chose unhealthy and destructive behaviors to try to remove the thorn in my flesh, but the pain only got worse. 

Thankfully God never turned his back on me. It is when I turned around to face him, I saw the warm face of a loving Father that I could trust and he took away most of the pain. It was through my weakness that God took me on a journey to make me stronger. I still get twinges and tweaks of pain and weakness especially this time of year, but they serve as bittersweet reminders of His grace and love.  

If you have a thorn in your flesh, God may be trying to get your attention, to teach you something and gracefully guide you back to the path he has set for you.  

These thorns can create bumps in the road and some are clearly bigger than others. There is an excellent book written by Warren W. Wiersbe,  called “The Bumps Are What You Climb On”.  In the book he illustrates that the most successful people in life have learned how to use these bumps to climb on; to see over the top of the hardship and climb even higher. 

Today, delight in your weakness and difficulties knowing that God will use this time to make you strong.  His grace IS sufficient for you. 

“As footsteps tread a path of grace that lights the way ahead, the smile upon your Saintly face across my life is spread.”   Brian Harris