'My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.' 2 Corinthians 12:9 NLTHindrances, hang-ups, and hurdles are God’s gift to the self-sufficient. While He won’t let you use your weakness as a crutch or a cop-out, He’ll allow it to keep you dependent on Him. Paul wrote, ‘I was given a thorn…to…keep me from becoming proud.’ (2 Corinthians 12:7 NLT)
Why would God keep you in touch with your limitations? To embarrass you? No, to empower you so that you can do His will. God’s intention is to increase, not decrease your need for Him. Perhaps this illustration will help you. Imagine four steel rings. The first can support eighty pounds, the second sixty, the third forty, and the fourth twenty. Linked together, what’s the greatest weight the chain can support? Two hundred pounds? No, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so the answer is twenty pounds! And it’s the same with us; we’re only as strong as our weakest area. That’s why we sometimes try to excuse or ignore them. But that’s dangerous because relying on your own strength may win you a few victories and accolades and cause you to think you can handle everything on your own. It was because Paul was so brilliant that God permitted difficult circumstances that kept him on his knees, living in a state of forced dependence. After praying repeatedly for God to take his weakness away, Paul finally came to the place where he could say, ‘I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.’ (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV) So today, depend on God!
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