Strength In Our Weakness

7And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9And 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. 10Therefore 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. 

2 Corinthians 12: 7 - 10 NKJV 

It's one of the most difficult things to deal with in this life of faith in which we walk.  That moment when it seems that all of our heavenly protections have vanished and lifes troubles come knocking at our door.  Of course, we shouldn't be at all surprised when these trials arrive, for even the apostle Paul experienced his share of troubles.  For his part, James goes so far as to warn us of these impending trials and to take joy within ourselves when they arrive!  Yeah, good luck with that.  To be joyous while in the midst of lifes trials has never been a quality of mine.  However, there are those christians among us who seem to take these life events in stride.  That being said, I think I'm getting better at it.  For far from being life threatening circumstances, these trials are most always merely bumps in our faith road.  The old saying making mountains out of molehills certainly applies in many of these situations.  So, how is it that we are able to look past our circumstances and into what God is really doing?  The apostle Paul faced that problem more than a few times in his own life.  In 2 Corinthians 12, we see the old apostle pleading with God not once but three times that He would remove "Thorn" which was paining him.  Now, this could have been an actual thorn, or merely a life situation for Paul.  Whatever it was, it pained him enough that he would cry out to God three times that He would remove it from him.  Now, old Paul was indeed a faithful man who preached Christ Jesus at every opportunity.  I think that he fully expected his heavenly Father to relieve him of this difficulty.  Gods response?  Sorry, Paul, but I've got something bigger in mind here!  

2My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3knowing that the testing of your faith produces apatience. 4But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be bperfect and complete, lacking nothing.

James 1: 2 - 4 NKJV 

Indeed, Gods response to Pauls pleas is a lesson which we can lean on today.  His grace is indeed sufficient for us as His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses.  As Paul himself claims, "For when I am weak, then I am strong."  This does have some credibility, and I believe that it all comes down to our trust in Christ Jesus who is within us.  We know that we walk today as Christ Jesus who is within us {Galations 2:20}.  That is, each and every event which we experience daily we experience as Christ Jesus.  Dennis has a wonderful interpretation of the classic passage we find in Philippians 4:13.  For not only can we do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens us, Christ IS OUR VERY STRENGTH!  Each and every day, we can lean on that strength of Christ who is within us.  This was exactly why Paul could proclaim that when he was weak that he was strong.  Like I said, this takes our realization that we indeed walk as Christ in any situation we encounter.  Some may call it trust, I prefer to refer to it as confidence.  Jesus, what are you doing here?  This kind of faith and trust is not so far fetched.  Can we indeed rejoice in those afflictions of life?  Absolutely, if we tackle them as Christ who is in us!

~Scott~