Praise the Lord Because His Grace is Enough

“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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) 

In the verses before these, Paul explains that in order to remain humble, he was given a thorn, a messenger of Satan, to harass him (12:7). He doesn’t specify much about this thorn, but it was clearly significant and painful enough for him to plead with God three times that it be taken away from him. Paul didn’t get the answer that he probably hoped for. The thorn wasn’t taken away. How many of us carry these intense aches, pains, and still-stinging open wounds that we plead with God to remove from us? 

How many of us are plagued with weaknesses, sickness, physical or mental struggles, financial insecurity, contentious relationships, loss, unmet desires, and so many other thorns? How many of us have pled with God to remove these thorns from us? How many of us have received an answer that we didn’t want? The answer that Paul received, and the answer that we all have received too, is that God’s grace is sufficient for us. His power is made perfect and seen most clearly in our weakness. When we have nothing to boast of, when our success doesn’t cloud our vision from seeing God’s hand in it, when our good health doesn’t keep us from remembering our Sustainer, when our wealth doesn’t keep us from remembering our need, when we are weak, then we are strong because God’s grace and strength are magnified. The answer we get isn’t always what we want but it is what we need. God’s grace is enough.  

Let us be content with it in all circumstances and give praise to God who is always enough. Let us see the grace and strength he provides and sing praise!