2 Corinthians 12: 9-10 Each time he said, “My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me. Since I know it is all for Christ’s good, I am quite content with my weaknesses and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. I both like this verse and dislike it. I like it because it shows God’s strength and how He compensates for my weakness. I like to know that my weakness serves a purpose and allows His power and grace to shine through. I like that His favor is enough to get me through. I don’t know if I could say, like Paul, that I am content with my weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities. It’s hard to be content in those situations. I don’t know that he’s saying we have to be content, but knowing that they are used by God and for God’s good should help me to be content. Here’s my thought. You always hear that the Bible says we must be content in all things. I don’t know if it says that somewhere else, but it doesn’t actually say that here. It’s just Paul saying that he has learned to be content. Of course, that doesn’t mean that it’s not a good thing. If my troubles allow God to work good into my life than I should be thankful that they count for something and aren’t just random chance. That would certainly be discouraging. But since they serve a purpose, I can find solace and comfort and learn to push through. I also like how he states that in his weakness, he is strong. He is weak because he’s human and frail and still in a fallen body. But he’s strong because God works through Him, using his weakness to mold him to His purposes. Through Paul’s weakness, God accomplished amazing things and touched the lives of hundreds (if not thousands) of people. I like that. It’s nice to know that even though I am not perfect and even though I struggle through life right now and even though things don’t always seem to go my way, God is strong and is glorified through my weaknesses because it gives Him the opportunity to do awesome things. And that’s pretty cool.
The last few days have been hectic so I didn’t get a chance to write. I did, however, read about the destruction of Israel at the end of Jeremiah and begin reading Lamentations, a book of mourning for the destruction of Israel. Kind of depressing, right? There is hope buried in the tears though. Jeremiah 3: 21-26 Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The unfailing love of the Lord never ends! By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day. I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him and seek him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord. Words penned in the midst of disaster, death, and despair, yet they are filled with such hope! This would be good for me to remember when I feel overwhelmed with the problems of this life. The unfailing love of the Lord never ends! There is hope in His plan because He is wonderfully good to me! But I do have to wait for Him and seek Him. Waiting quietly has never been easy since I’d rather be doing something. But, here that’s what Jeremiah says to do. Hope in the middle of the storm. A nugget of gold in the middle of the charred embers. God is good!