I’ve grown up knowing this verse my entire life. I’d hear the first part- “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you…'” and be so encouraged. God’s grace covers me- completely and abundantly! But then I’d hear the rest of the verse, about why His grace is so amazing- “…for my power is made perfect in weakness.“
So I have to be weak in order for Him to be glorified? Hmm…
And then, there’s the real kicker- “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
I have to boast in the things I cannot do? The things I fail at? The things I work so hard to keep the world from seeing?
Yup.
I’ve known for sure what my weaknesses are. For most of my life, they are what I let define me. But I didn’t want other people to know that.
This past season of my life has changed the way I hear this verse. I didn’t really choose to let people start seeing my weaknesses… I just became so weak that I couldn’t hide them anymore. And this, this is the place where I need to be.
If I am so strong on my own, where is my need for God? If people see me serving because of my own capabilities, how will they know of the God who knows and loves them?
I struggled for so long with this verse because I thought my weaknesses were too weak (what a paradox!). I believed the verse, I knew wholeheartedly that God could use people’s weaknesses to show His strength and His goodness… I just didn’t see how He could use mine. How could He use overthinking, or nervousness, or freaking out about nothing, or making up terrible scenarios, or believing the lies that I tell myself, or any of the hundreds of ways I fail each day to show His power? My weaknesses did not seem redeemable to me.
Good thing it’s not up to me.
God is restoring all things. Ever since the fall in the Garden, where Eve believe the lie that Satan told her rather rather than trusting what God said, God has been working to redeem His creation back to it’s perfect glory. And what better way to show the world how powerful you are than to take what is broken, laden with sin, and dark, and turn it to what it was meant to be? Through Jesus, our sins- the atrocities that we commit against our Perfect Father- have been completely forgiven. We are made new through His sacrifice! He has taken our greatest weakness, and through it, shown His endless love and great compassion, giving us a way to be complete, to be free, and to be in His presence.
So if my weaknesses can attest to the fact that God is powerful, and loving, and merciful, then let me boast. Let the world see that He is my comfort, He is my strength, and He is my life.
“For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
