Strength and Weakness

Today's Reading:
2 Kings 20:1-22:2
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
Psalm 104:31-35 
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Focus Verses: 2 Corinthians 12:10
10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Insight:
Most of us find it difficult to admit weaknesses, let alone delight in them. Even Paul wasn't really happy about hardships and weaknesses. He cried out to God asking him to remove them. Paul had learned, however, that his weaknesses and hardships revealed the evidence of God's grace and strength in his life.

Paul came to see that his problems and difficulties were windows for God's grace and strength to shine through. This gave him a new perspective. He could delight in weaknesses because God was clearly displayed through them. He could see his limitations as strengths because they gave witness to God's strength and provision.

Response and Action:
I need to recognize my weaknesses and limitations. I need to rely on God's strength. My reliance on God, my openness about my weaknesses, and transparency about my problems can be a testimony of God's grace and power in my life.

O God, help me to live for you and through you in thought, word, and deed. Help me to lean on you and look to you for strength. May my reliance upon your strength, and my humble acknowledgment of my weakness, be a witness that results in praise to you. Amen.

Spiritual Formation Verses: 1 Corinthians 1:26-27
26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

Resources:
2 Corinthians: Finding Strength in Weakness
by Paul Stevens