2 Coríntios 12

2 Coríntios 12:9

Ironside asks "Have you a thorn, some great trial, some infirmity, some distress, something that is just burdening your heart and it seems as though you will break under it? You have prayed and prayed, "O Lord, deliver me from this." It may not be the will of God to deliver you, but He says, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness."... The weaker I am the better opportunity Christ has to manifest Himself in me...May God give each one of us to take that place of subjection to the will of God where we can glory in infirmities." (2 Corinthians 12 - Ironside's Notes) It is interesting that teleo ("Tetelestai" = It is finished!) is the very word Jesus cried out on the Cross as He gave up His spirit (Jn 19:30). Thus at the point of our Lord's greatest weakness as the God Man (2Co 13:4, cp His Gethsemane experience - Lk 22:43, 44!), God perfected His greatest power, power sufficient to break sin's power to enslave men (Ro 6:11-note), power sufficient to render inoperative the power of the devil (He 2:14,15-note), and power that led to His resurrection (Ep 1:19-note, Ep 1:20, 21-note) and His victory over the power of death (1Co 15:54, 55, 56). God does not work through our strength, a truth made evident in King Asa's life when he chose not to rely on Jehovah (Jesus) which resulted in his enemy escaping his hand (2Chr 16:7, 8, 9). Not only did King Asa become angry when confronted with this truth, he became severely ill and yet even in the weakness of his disease he refused to seek Jehovah (for 2 years)! (2Chr 16:10, 11, 12, 13). King Asa had a "thorn" so to speak, but he refused to humble himself as did Paul. It is only when our weakness, personal insufficiency, and utter inability are consciously felt and humbly acknowledged that the power of God and His purpose for our "thorn" will be fulfilled (perfected). THOUGHT - What is the "thorn" in your side? Are you like Asa resisting the good hand of the Lord? Are you willing to surrender your heart (2Chr 16:9)? It is only then that you can experience the power of His grace. Let us be imitators of Paul (1Co 4:16, 11:1, cp 1Th 1:6-note, 1Th 2:14-note), not Asa! Beloved, when we begin to "taste success" in ministry wherever God has placed us, may our hearts tremble with fear that we might fall prey to the deception that we as mere weak branches can do any good thing of eternal value (Jn 15:5). Alan Redpath emphasizes the importance of this principle asking "Do you really think that the modern preparations for the education of young people for Christian work recognize that principle? God works through the man who has been wiped clean and turned inside out, his life emptied before the Lord until he is hopelessly weak, that no flesh might glory in His presence (1Co 1:26, 27, 28, 1Co 1:29KJV)...The Lord Jesus watches because He allows the pressure to continue in order that, in the severest moment of testing, it may drive you to His wounded side, and teach you that for overwhelming pressure there is adequate grace. Oh, would it not be wonderful if that experience could be yours today! Stop praying for the removal of the thorn and understand the transforming power of the Cross!...Are you a dear child of God for whom sunshine has departed from your life recently? Do you want it back? Life has become so hard and drab, so dry and uninteresting. Ah, but there is nothing lovely about the Cross and the crown of thorns that God gave to the Lord Jesus, and I am sure there is nothing lovely about the thorn that you have either. The Cross seems so cruel and so dreadful. Your trial is all that, I am sure, almost too much to bear. But you notice Paul says, "...there was given to me..." --all the time I have been trying to thrust it away while the Lord Jesus has been handing it back to me, putting it on His hand and saying "Take it, My child, this is from Me." In Ps 106:15 we read a tremendous statement: "...he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul." If you keep saying, "Lord, take the thorn away!" and you refuse to submit to the discipline of it, then maybe He will do that very thing and send leanness to your soul. God forbid! (Blessing Out of Buffeting) Pastor Lloyd Ogilvie wrote about the power in weakness principle "I have learned this repeatedly in my own life. When my strength is depleted, when my rhetoric is unpolished by human talent, when I am weary, the Lord has a much better tool for empathetic, sensitive communication. The barriers are down. When I know I can do nothing by myself, my poverty becomes a channel of His power. More than that, often when I feel I have been least efficient, people have been helped most effectively. It has taken me a long time to learn that the lower my resistances are and the less self-consciousness I have, the more the Word of God comes through. (Drumbeat of Love. Waco, TX: Word, 1976, p. 224) R Kent