OUR DAILY BREAD             Friday, June 16, 1995
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READ: 2 Corinthians 12:1-10
                
                  THE STRONG WEAK PEOPLE

  "Most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities,
        that the power of Christ may rest on me.

                         - 2 Corinthians 12:9

If there is anything that we love to hate more than
the arrogance of others, it would have to be an 
awareness of our own weakness.  We detest it so much
that we invent ways to cover our personal inadequacy.

Even the apostle Paul needed to be reminded of his own
frailty.  He was jabbed time and again by a "thorn in
the flesh" (2 Cor. 12:7).  He didn't name this thorn, 
but J. Oswald Sanders reminds us that whatever it was,
"it hurt, humiliated, and restricted Paul."  Three
times he begged the Lord to take it away, but his
request was not granted.  Instead, he used his thorn
to tap into God's all-sufficient grace.  The Lord
promised, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my
strength is made perfect in weakness" (v. 9).

Courageously, Paul began to "own" his weakness and
put the Lord's grace to the test, a pathway that
Sanders calls "a gradual educative process" in the
apostle's life.  Sanders notes that eventually
Paul no longer regarded his thorn as a "limiting
handicap" but as a "heavenly advantage."  And his
advantage was this:  When he was weak in himself, 
he was strong in the Lord.

As we accept our weaknesses, in Christ we can be
strong weak people.
                                -- Joanie E. Yoder

        May the Word of God dwell richly 
         In my heart from hour to hour,
         So that all may see I triumph
            Only through His power.

                                -- Wilkinson

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           THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
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         To know God's strength,
        we must know our weakness.
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THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:  Psalms 67-69

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