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Today’s Teaching

When I Am Weak, He Is Strong

Victoria Riollano

Day: 15 | Plan: 30 Bible Verses

Start Here: 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 12:9 (ESV) "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."

Major Moment: Paul taught that God's grace is sufficient for us, and His power is revealed most fully when we embrace our weaknesses.

What should have been an exciting opportunity to minister at my daughter's school ended in embarrassment. As I spoke, the students' blank stares and lack of interaction told me I would never be asked to speak again.

Yet hours later, when I picked up my daughter from school, she shared how I had been the best speaker of the whole year. Through my cracking voice, shaky hands, and fumbled presentation, the Lord ministered to the students in the way they needed. Surely, in my weakness, God showed Himself to be strong.

This moment reminds me of verses found in Paul's second letter to the Corinthian church: "But [God] 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" (2 Corinthians 12:9). God is the giver of these two fundamental gifts to every believer: His grace and His power.

According to Thayer's Greek Lexicon, God's "grace" or charis in 2 Corinthians 12:9 is His loving-kindness, favor, and ability to "exer[t] his holy influence upon souls" to keep and strengthen His people. Thus, when God stated that His charis was sufficient for Paul, He was describing more than putting a Band-Aid over human pain. Rather, today's verses speak of God's ability to use even painful circumstances to draw us closer to Him.

We must remember Paul wrote these words from the perspective of someone who was undergoing persecution, imprisonment, danger, hunger, and the daily anxieties that come with starting churches (2 Corinthians 11:23-28). Paul was not a stranger to pain. Yet he stated that even through "weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities," he remained content because God strengthened him in every trial (2 Corinthians 12:10).

In addition to His grace, these verses also remind us of God's power. It is interesting in the wording of 2 Corinthians 12:9 that the Lord states His power is "made perfect in weakness" (emphasis added). At first glance, we could mistake this to mean that God's power changes in effectiveness or that His power has moments of imperfection. Yet that could not be further from the truth. Nothing about God could ever be imperfect (Deuteronomy 32:4; James 1:17). Matthew Poole's Bible commentary explains that "made perfect" instead means God's "divine power, in upholding and supporting [His] people, is never so glorious as when they are under weaknesses in themselves."

In other words, when we are in our weakest moments, painfully aware of our own imperfection, we can become more aware of God's power to comfort, strengthen, and encourage us.

Friends, our God is powerful! He is strong enough to uphold a person with stage fright, one who is grieving, or someone who has been diagnosed with cancer. Just as God empowered Paul through many moments of frustration, chaos, and persecution, He is with us. What a blessing it is to serve a God who is more than able to heal our hearts and transform our brokenness into "boast[ing] all the more gladly" in Him (2 Corinthians 12:9).

God's grace is sufficient.

Prayer: Lord, I thank You that You are a powerful God. In my darkest moments, You meet me where I am. You uphold my weary head and soothe my aching heart. You breathe life into me when I feel like I cannot go on. You are gracious toward me, and Your power is present in my every pain, trial, and disappointment. Thank You for being present in my life. In Jesus' name, amen.