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. 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. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ESV

None of us want to suffer. None of us want to be weak, but we are weak. We are not strong in and of ourselves, not without Christ. Nothing displays that better than when we are in times of crying out to the Lord and praying for reprieve. When the apostle Paul wrote what he did concerning his weakness being perfected through Christ and His strength, it was another humbling time for Paul in his walk with the Lord. This man had been a persecutor of the church, and he had been knocked off his horse by Christ on the way to carry out more persecutions against the church. He had faced multiple trials and tribulations along the way in his ministry on behalf of Jesus Christ, and he boasted of his weaknesses in these trials before the super apostles in that time who scorned Paul, as well as testifying of these things before the Corinthian church.

The perfection in weakness continued even after being given a vision of the third heaven. After asking the Lord three times for the torment to leave him, he was not given the reprieve he wanted. Whether this was a physical ailment or it was an individual sent to torment him, we do not fully know. What we do know is that the Lord gave him a response, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” This brought great joy to Paul because he understood that God’s grace was displayed ever more in his increasing weakness. There is contentment in weakness as believers in Christ because He is glorified and His power is on display as we depend upon His strength and not our own.

This way of thinking is upside down and backwards to the world, to our flesh and to our desire to be strong in ourselves. Who rejoices in weakness? Who boasts in their weakness when enduring insults, distresses, persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ? Many of us detest any personal display of weakness in our lives because we have been taught to be strong and to be enough. We do not willingly show our soft underbelly before others. We suppress it and bury the pain so others cannot see it, and we put on a brave face. We may not consider the truth that God’s ways are not our ways, and we are not that strong nor are we enough. We also are not meant to put on a brave face. It is okay to admit the struggle, and it is okay to admit weakness. If we were that strong then we would not need Christ to save us and to strengthen us.

Weakness in Prayer

It is interesting to note the weakness in Paul’s prayer and request before the Lord. Paul depended upon the Lord just as we should. He didn’t command the torment to stop. He asked the Lord that it might leave him, and when he heard the Lord’s response, he was glad. He welcomed weakness for the sake of Christ.

Prayer can be an area of pride in our lives without us even realizing it. True Biblical prayer involves petitions and supplications before God (Philippians 4:6-7). It involves trusting in God’s ways when the answer to our prayer is no or being reminded that His grace is sufficient. In times of prayer for loved ones and other areas of life personally, it can seem weak in our understanding to not command and demand as maybe we once did or have heard others do. I have found myself in that very position, feeling as if my prayer was weak and lacking power because I could not bring myself to decree and declare as I once did after gaining better Biblical understanding of how prayer is modeled in Scripture. However, there is great freedom when you embrace your weakness as the clay on the Potter’s wheel. Weakness should not be disparaged, and the power is not in my prayer but in the One to whom I am praying. We are to seek His will and not our own, which when we do this, it only seeks to further reveal our weakness and our trust in God’s sovereignty.

We can all learn from this example seen through the life of Paul. Rather than running from weakness, we embrace it as those whose hope is in our Lord and Savior. We do not despise hardships, setbacks, suffering, or difficulty. It does not mean that we enjoy or take pleasure in these things, but we take pleasure in knowing that those things exposing our weakness only serve to reveal the power of Christ through us as we turn to Him for strength. Be encouraged to remember when feeling weak to call upon God to strengthen you in your weakness. Resolve to rejoice in the Lord through that difficult time. Go before the Lord in prayer making your petitions known and offering up thanksgiving to God regardless of the outcome. We are not guaranteed the outcome we want, but we can rest in His peace after having prayed. When we face difficult times in our lives, may we look at it as an opportunity for the grace of God to shine ever brighter and to be perfected in weakness by Christ.