Woe Is To Me?

 2 Cor 12: 7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 I was reading, but to be perfectly honest, I was listening to 2 Corinthians 9 - 13 and when I came to this passage I was deeply convicted. To tears. I had to truly think about what it meant to have a thorn in my flesh to keep me from being conceited.

I thought, was I proud and arrogant about my physical condition that God disabled me physically? I don't think so.  As a teen and young adult I was.  But that was a long time ago.  I am still a pretty big guy and it is disturbing at times to get the dirty looks from people who see my wife carrying the packages while I walk empty handed. I admit I have been arrogant about my intelligence, knowledge, and education.  But not so much so as to warrant the sickness that robbed my brain of its short term memory (not as bad as Dori in Finding Nemo LOL). People at my church often think of me as the smart science guy but I would trade that education to be known as a competent teacher of the Word of God.

So I don't believe that my disabilities are a result of a messenger from Satan always harassing me but I think he can use them against me.  I have pleaded more than 3 times to be healed and to have my brain function restored.  He has not.

I have read the "My grace is sufficient for you" verse many times but today I felt very convicted about feeling down and frustrated with my incapacities.  I avoid boasting about my strengths so not to be or become prideful but I have never boasted about my weaknesses. Maybe I should.  I noticed the next part says that Paul did "so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."  Funny I had not noticed that part before.

So let me get this straight.  The Grace of Christ which defeated death, overpowered hell, and gave us new life and eternal life, as well as a right relationship with our creator almighty God is not only good enough for me but the power it brings is made perfect in my weakness.  That is some deep food for thought and even more convicting because my downcast mood is like saying, "His grace is NOT sufficient for me."

Other than being able to weather the hardships that my weaknesses bring on, I am still a little unclear on how I am strong when I am weak.  How is Christ's power revealed through my weakness and to whom, other than myself, is it revealed?  I don't think people see me, as I hobble along with my cane, as a man anointed with the power of God.  Maybe they do.  I think people more likely feel sorry for me. But then again, God doesn't really care what I think in this matter. Anymore than what He cared about Paul's thoughts on it.  My grace is sufficient.  That is His statement and it seems to have a nuance of finality to it. More thoughts to ponder.  When God reveals to me the answers I will share them in another post.

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 24, 2016 at 6:52 PM

    Well written my friend. Let me be the first to say, that when i see you and your wife after all the pain and trials, to still have a smile on your face...to still serve and worship God, well it's evident that his grace is all over you. In your weakness, I see the glory of God's great strength.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Where Is The Love?

Matt 7:3“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? Recently, I have read some FB posts about the problems of the modern church.  My friend Ben Jensen wrote an excellent rebuttal to one of them and I will refrain from re-iterating it here.  Please take the time and read his statement in his blog Dear Church: People Will Always Leave You at  http://lifeunstained.blogspot.com/     Read it. It is worth your time. It is easy to go about ranting on what is wrong with the church.  We, who are the church, are fallen, imperfect, etc.  So there is a lot of material available.  Possibly a 1,000+ volume encyclopedia on me alone and I am just 1 of millions. I understand admonishments and exhortations are needed from time-to-time.  And yes discipline needs to be exercised as well.  But we need to be so careful that we do not overstep our authority and find ourselves in dir...
Read more

This Man Knows His History...

Image
Ever come face-to-face with your own history? Today I did.  I had the blessing and humbling honor to meet the man who was responsible for my life and the lives of my family.  Today I met Matthew Duffy, formally, Sgt. Matt Duffy. Sgt Duffy served in the U.S. Army during WWII. Why is he responsible for my family's lives?  Come with me on this incredible tale and find out.  My father, Gottfried Kligmann and his brother Samuel Kligmann were imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp after their half brother turned them in.  They were scheduled to be executed when the US Army arrived an hour ahead of schedule.  Sgt Duffy was one of the soldiers who arrived at that time. Here is a snippet of his story which he related to me today. His battalion, the 2nd Ranger battalion, was attached to the 101st,, airborn battalion but he was with the ground troops.  They were to make a coordinated ground/paratrooper strike on a target. The airborn soldiers were behind schedule and the ground troops wer...
Read more

Do you Hope with expectation?

 I have been re-reading the book of Romans in the Holy Bible. There is a word that occurs 14 times that God has brought to my attention.  The word is "hope."  When God, through His Holy Spirit brings a word to my attention, I research it.  Like all Bible scholars, and wannabes (me), I went to the Greek. The word used for hope, in the Greek, is "elpida, elpidi," et.al.  This word is also translated as expected or expectation. So I contemplated (picture me in an Alistair Cooke setting, LOL) the application of the word hope.  Hope can be anything from hoping for an A on a test, a Lamborghini, a kiss, a healing, a new job, etc. But hope, as the apostle Paul meant in his epistles, was that of expectation.  Not just the hope of a maybe, but the expectation of a promise to be fulfilled.  A hope that requires faith. Faith that says not just something to which we look forward, but a trust and belief that allows you to EXPECT that it will be fulfilled....
Read more