After a Few Weeks...

 Hello, friends! Has it been a month already?? Between normal responsibilities and studying for the National Bible Bee I've had very little time to sit down and write lately. However, today I am pleased to present to you my latest Scriptorium submission! I hope you enjoy it!

Tally ho!

Rachael Anne

2 Corinthians 12:5-10: Christ in Me

Broken. That was all I could think as I stared at my hands. 

I had spent a good amount of an evening playing volleyball with the youth at my church. When it was my turn to serve I sent the ball over the net at the same moment I felt a searing pain in my wrist. I shook it off, chalking it up to my puny girl hands, and played the rest of the evening. Little did I know that two days later I would find damage to my hands, wrists, and shoulders.

As I stared down at my hands, willing them not to hurt, I couldn’t help asking the Lord “Why?” Why me? Why do I have to have such painful hands? Why does my body rebel at sports or lifting heavy things? Why can’t I play my instruments without pain? Why can’t I be better equipped to serve You? It was in the midst of my wrestlings that familiar words began rolling through my mind. 

“My grace is sufficient for you.”

In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul is speaking of things he is boasting of, a continuation from chapter 11. While he says that he is willing to boast about a man who was caught up to paradise before death, the only things Paul will boast of himself are his weaknesses. It isn’t that he has nothing to boast of; in fact, he is the most qualified when it comes to boasting! But Paul is unwilling to make himself any more than other people perceive him to be (vs. 6).

Then he begins to talk of his thorn in the flesh. Paul calls it a messenger of Satan (vs. 7), something to keep him from becoming too puffed up because of the revelations he had received. He knew that no one is excluded from temptations, and thus it was natural for pride to be a struggle. But this thorn, whatever it was, was keeping him “from becoming conceited.” 

But Paul didn’t want this thorn, so he begs God to take it away. Not once, not twice, but three times he goes to the Lord… and God says no. He does not take this trial from Paul. Instead He tells him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (vs. 9). He reassures Paul that it is the weakness of man that will perfect God’s power in him.

Paul’s reaction? He’s glad to boast of his weaknesses! He’s glad for the opportunity to have God working more powerfully in him. More than that, he is content with anything life will throw at him because he knows that “when I am weak, then I am strong” (vs. 10). 

I’ve been struggling with pain for over six months. I’m still hurting after my volleyball escapade. I can’t play the piano or write this without pain. But I am content.

Because Christ’s power rests on me, making me perfect in weakness.

All Scripture quotations are taken from the English Standard Version.