"And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."–II Cor. 12:7-9
We can be so concerned about how people see us and be so paralyzed by fear, that we miss out on the sufficiency of God’s grace amidst our weakness. Seasonally, God will be pleased to keep us extremely conscience of our dependence upon Him for everything. Then, when the thorn has worked its purpose, He will show us the abundant sufficiency of His grace (II Cor. 12).
The hard part for us, although we believe the gospel, is receiving peace when comfort is gone, and the trial SEEMS bigger than grace. I know His grace is sufficient, yet why am I so distressed under the affliction? Yet, then, when grace appears (it was upholding me all the time), I say, "O Heshimu, why didn’t you believe?" Has God ever let us experience something and failed to show His sufficiency? Is it possible that He can redeem our souls by grace, make us fully accepted by grace, and yet grace fail to be our sufficiency in this world? It is impossible (read Ps. 56:9-13).
The problem is never with the grace of Christ; the problem is our unbelief (Mark 9:14-27). But, bless God; the thorns that He gives us—the providential things that destroy our self-confidence–are particularly designed to strengthen our faith. They make us see that this whole salvation experience, from before the foundation of the world, and until the end of the ages, is entirely of blessed, free, sovereign, blood-bought grace, in Christ Jesus.
Therefore, let us, like Paul, learn to glory in our infirmities (II Cor. 12:9-10). It is not God’s purpose to remove every thorn; it is God’s purpose that the thorns bring us to faith. Therefore, believe that this trial, which makes you taste the bitterness of your own weakness, is actually sweet—not because we enjoy tribulation, but because Christ is Faithful to reveal the sufficiency of His strength–"Therefore", says Paul, "I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong (II Cor. 12:9)." Brethren, knowing Christ and tasting of His grace to your unworthy and incapable soul is the exact same thing (I Cor. 2:2-3).
Therefore, learn to see the trial accomplishing God’s glorious purpose even before deliverance is experienced. And, let us seek this grace... the grace of glorying in infirmities... as a matter of grace. Don’t seek it as something that you can earn by bearing grief, and don’t put any confidence in how much you suffer. Seek grace to glory in infirmities as something that God freely gives through the redemption that’s in Christ Jesus. He, our blessed Lord and Savior, suffered to earn every manifestation of grace that we shall ever experience. And, upon the basis of His suffering unto death, the grace of confidence in His sufficiency is freely given. We shall learn to say with Paul, "... I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strentheneth me (Phil. 4:11-13)."
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