Thou Art Strong

⁷To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ¹⁰That 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.

 

-2 Corinthians 12:7-10

 

When we go through hard times, when we are feeling weak...... it's an opportunity to glorify God. Sounds bizarre, right? But it's true. And it's a wonderful thing. It's a chance for us to accept God. To let Him be our Savior. To say to Him, I can't do this alone. I need your help.

 

Too often, we try to do everything on our own. We feel upset or ashamed when we cannot do everything for ourselves. God doesn't want it to be that hard. He wants us to bring our weaknesses to Him. He is glorified when we surrender to Him and let Him lift us up.

 

God does not look down upon us during times of weakness. He knows we are not perfect. He loves us so much, and His love and grace covers our imperfections.

 

Next time you're feeling weak, try to see it as an opportunity to glorify God. We cannot rely on our own strength and power. Christ must be more important than our pride. We can "delight" in our times of struggle because it is a chance to grow closer to God. It's hard to see this bigger picture sometimes...

 

We cannot truly be strong if we possess our human strength alone.

Only when we admit our weakness and surrender to Christ, can the true strength of God come about.