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Paul deliberately requested that his thorn in the flesh be removed. With each request, Christ’s response was “no.” But with the denial came an explanation. The explanation was that his weakness magnified the power of Christ in his life. The NLT misses an important turn of a phrase in verse 9. For example, the NIV renders, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” The word rest literally means “made its home” or “tabernacled,” which helps us to understand the lasting nature of Christ’s power upon Paul’s life. Paul was given a thorn, but with the thorn came the grace of God which filled every broken part of his life.
Here’s the takeaway:
“When I am weak, then I am strong.”Weakness is like an Interstate superhighway that ushers the grace of God and the power of God into our lives. One of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes is, “Our problem is not that we are too weak. Our problem is that we are too strong.” God uses our weakness so that he receives the glory for our lives. He makes us a sort of living paradox so that his power is magnified over our talents and abilities. Think about the paradox of Paul’s life. He is a sick miracle worker that cannot heal himself. He’s a visionary with bad eyes. He’s the spokesperson for the gospel in Asia with a speech impediment. God receives glory when he’s able to accomplish through us what no one else expects, even ourselves.
One of the important lessons of this wonderful text is that it reminds us to be open to the fact that the worst thing that happens to us produces the best things that happen in us and through us. That may mean that we have to quit looking at ourselves as victims, and instead anticipate the victories that God brings to us and through us that he could accomplish no other way.
