“And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness…”
2 Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV)
There are many ways God can provide for us. Apostle Paul stated in (2 Corinthians 12:10) that he would gladly boast in his infirmities so that the power of Christ may rest in him. He acknowledged that when he’s weak, that’s when he is strong because of God’s provision.
Paul intricately shows how God provided His grace instead of removing the thorn from his life. God gave and would keep giving His grace to Paul. The grace God gave Paul was sufficient to meet his every need. The answer was not what Paul initially hoped for or expected, but God’s response is always just.
As believers, we sometimes pray for God to remove the challenge or heal us regardless of the situation, but our Lord is sovereign, and He knows the end from the beginning. Be assured that God has your interest at heart (Isaiah 55:9). The grace God gave Paul was sufficient to meet his every need. He was desperately seeking relief from this burden, just like us.
However, there were two ways of relieving the burden. Instead of taking away the thorn, God strengthened Paul under it. God showed His strength through Paul’s apparent weakness. Paul’s situation then is the same in each of our lives today. For us to experience God’s provision, we must believe that God’s grace is sufficient. We only believe this when we believe we are insufficient.
Today’s culture is one of self-sufficiency and self-reliance, and this is a huge obstacle. We have become people who idolise the ‘self-made man’ and want to rely on ourselves. But we can’t receive God’s strength until we know our weakness. We can’t receive the provision of God’s grace until we know our insufficiency.
Charles Spurgeon wrote, “It is easy to believe in grace for the past and the future, but to rest in it for the immediate necessity is true faith…”. God’s grace is sufficient for us! How absurd to think that it could ever be any different! Sometimes, our mind cannot phantom how the grace of our crucified, risen, exalted, triumphant Saviour, is sufficient for us, but it is unequivocally sufficient for all aspects of our lives.
Isn’t it wonderful that God made provision of His grace not only for the Apostle Paul but for all of us even centuries later? We all have access! His grace is sufficient! Place your ‘thorn’ in Jesus’s hand and watch Him triumph in your life. Thanks be to our Lord Jesus that we have access to the provision of sufficient grace. He has designed every purpose with its own provision – Dr Myles Munroe.
Read: 2 Corinthians 9:8; Philippians 4:19
Bible Reading Guide: Psalms 107:33-43; Galatians 2:11-21; Galatians 3:1-9; Isaiah 38; Isaiah 39; Isaiah 40
