Daily Radio Bible - April 11th, 22

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.

God’s power works best in our weakness.

God’s power works best in our weakness.  That’s a hard lesson to learn.  It took Paul three separate times of God telling him, before he finally got the point.  God’s grace is all we need, not just for the spiritual struggles we go through in this life, but for the physical struggles we go through.  Our bodies age and break down.  They get sick and sometimes they get cancer.  We need to know that God’s grace is enough, not only for our spiritual struggles, but also for our physical struggles.  God gives us the power to live his life, now, even in a body that is breaking down.  We all need to know that.

Hear God’s answer to what you really need, above and over what you want.  Paul heard it three times.  You need to hear it, too.  His grace is enough for you.

You are loved!