2 Corinthians 12:9-10: And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Have you ever been deprived of something? Being deprived means you are prevented from the enjoyment of possessing something or doing something you want to do. Most of us have been deprived of at least one thing in our lives. What did that feel like to you? Frustrated? Did you think to yourself, ‘If I hadn’t been deprived of that something or situation, imagine what I could have done with it?’ Now hold onto that while we explore today’s verse.
Prior to his conversion to faith in Christ, the Apostle Paul was known as Saul. He was a highly esteemed religious leader of a group called the Pharisees. Paul details the level of his adherence to the Law and his status in the third chapter of Philippians. He had every reason to be prideful and confident in who he was and how he was choosing to live. In today’s world, he was “feeling it”.
When you come to faith in Jesus, there should be a visible change in who you are and how you live. There may be no greater example of this truth in Scripture than the Apostle Paul. Given what we just described of him in the previous paragraph as Saul, it is only by the presence of the Holy Spirit could he write what he wrote in today’s verse. Paul had a “thorn in his side” – an infirmity (believed by many to be poor vision) – that he had asked the Lord to take away. He cites the Lord’s response to this request that His grace was sufficient for him. Simply – the Lord said “No” to his request to remove some suffering from Paul. To those who don’t understand how God works, that response may seem “un-God-like” – or even mean.
The key to the Lord’s response is what He says next, “for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” When we are “feeling it” – feeling prideful and confident in our capabilities – we are in essence exerting our wills. We’re so sure of how to respond because we are so sure of our understanding of the situation. Before writing the balance of today’s verse, Paul, being a student of Scripture, must have remembered Isaiah 55:8-9, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” He also must have recalled what Jesus said to the Father just before His betrayal and crucifixion – “not My will but Your will be done.”
Paul had taken to heart what God said in Isaiah. Whatever pride and confidence he had in his own abilities is overwhelmed by the truth that God’s thoughts and ways were higher than his. By the power of the Holy Spirit living in him, he recognized that when he was walking in his own confidence, he was forcing his strength and will over the Lord’s. In today’s verse he comes to the conclusion that when he did this, he was depriving the Lord of invoking His thoughts and ways on Paul’s life – preventing the Lord from doing what He wanted to do with Paul and through Paul.
Remember how we described what it feels like to be deprived of something? Don’t frustrate the Lord by thinking you’ve got everything figured out. He knows you better than you do, so He knows how to bless you in a manner that will far exceed what benefits you think you can receive by living life your way. If you will come to the conclusion the Apostle Paul did – boasting in your infirmities – knowing when you are weak, you are strong because you have yielded to God’s exceeding power, imagine what He will do with your life.