April 12th, 20

APRIL 12,    OUR WEAKNESS - HIS STRENGTH

Our reading today is I Samuel 13, I Chronicles 2 – 3, and II Corinthians 12.  We are reading from the New Living Translation.

What is it that you really want?  Is it comfort, security, significance, pleasure, recognition?  These are all good things. Paul wanted something, too. He wanted it badly.  He pleaded for it three times. He wanted relief. He wanted this thing that was bothering him, to stop. He called it his thorn in the flesh, the origins of which, came from Satan, himself.   We’re not sure exactly what it was but the description seems to cover all the bases, whether it was something spiritual or physical.

We all have needs, physical and spiritual, and we cry out to God, asking him to deliver us from whatever that problem is.  And Paul was no different. Three times he pleaded with God to relieve him of that thing. Whatever it was, Paul felt that it was holding him back from what he needed to do. This is what Paul really wanted.  He saw God deliver and provide for other people’s spiritual and physical needs. Why didn’t he do the same thing for Paul? Why doesn’t he do the same thing for you and me? Maybe it’s because there’s something Paul, and you, and I, need, that’s more important than what we want.  Paul needed to know the power of grace in his life.  God tells Paul, not once, but three different times, that grace is what he needs.

You are loved!