All Sufficient Grace for Me

May 26th, 2014 is today's date. It is Memorial Day to most Americans. However, Megan and I have had this date marked for nine months now. Today is Joses due date. He may or may not come today (that is entirely up to him), but it still seems like such an important day to us. As we have approached this day, and even now, I wonder if I am strong enough to go through this trial. When I am honest with myself, I see that I am very weak. However, in 2 Corinthians 12, Paul said that being weak is not so bad.

 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me--to keep me from exalting myself!  (8)  Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.  (9)  And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.  (10)  Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

Although many have speculated what Paul's "thorn in the flesh" was, there are only few things that we know for certain: 1) it was painful, 2) it kept him humble, and 3) Paul wanted the problem to be solved.  I know many people have been praying for us. We have not had an ultrasound to see our son in over a month. It may be true that God has already answered those prayers and corrected my son's neural tube defect. Perhaps God will heal Joses today or even after being born.

From the evidence we have seen, it is likely that God is answering our prayers in a similar way as He answered Paul. I am not sure how many times I personally have prayed that God would save my son. Paul prayed three times for his solution. While Paul received an audible response from God, those same words have been speaking to me from the page in my Bible. "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."

At first, it seems like a cryptic or even a political way of saying "no". When you dig down to it, Paul is praying for something and God is denying Paul's request in a friendly way. However, the more you think about it, the more meaningful it becomes. Here are three lessons to learn from God's answer:

God's gifts are more than I deserve.

God has blessed me with far more than I deserve. I am a scummy sinner who deserves eternal death (Romans 6:23). No parent would tolerate in their own children the way I have treated my Heavenly Father. Whatever grace God is willing to give to me, it is far more than I deserve.

When I count my blessings, it is unthinkable to accuse God of stealing my son from me. God has blessed me with the past nine months with my son. It has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. If God took not only my son, but my wife, my family, and everything I have away from me today, but still offered salvation to me, it is still far more than I deserve.

God's grace is more than sufficient to meet all of my needs. Even when God answers "no", there are so many more times when He answers with "yes". God's grace is sufficient for me.

Even when the answer is "no", it is because

God wants and knows what is best.

I have no doubt that God is both wise and good and wants to do what is best for me.  I would much rather He be in charge of my life. God has proved Isaiah 55:8-9 to be true many times over.

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9) 

I do not have the ability to direct my own steps and get where I want to go (c.f. Jeremiah 10:23). To know this is true, all I have to do is look at a few examples in scripture. If you offered a young Joseph the opportunity to be thrown into a pit, then sold into slavery, and then thrown into prison, my guess is that he would have said, "no thanks". He, nor his brothers, nor would anyone else have imagined that God had planned for him to be a great ruler of Egypt. I am sure you would have gotten a similar "no thanks" if you had offered Daniel a chance to be thrown into a lion's den, his three friends to be thrown into a fiery furnace, David to be tormented by Saul, or Job to lose everything he owned. Who would have guessed those stories to end the way they did?

God's providence is amazing. Yes, bad things happen to good people. However, those same bad events always seem to bring someone closer to God. God is glorified through the most difficult of circumstances.

If God answers me with a "no", it is obvious that it is because

God wants me to be more like Jesus.

A Christ-ian's purpose in life is to be like Christ. People of the world should be able to see Jesus living in us. In order for this to happen, we need to become more like Christ. Just like Paul prayed three times for God to remove his thorn, Jesus prayed three times to "let this cup pass from me" (Mat 26:39). Paul's attitude mimics Jesus' statement of "not as I will, but as You will."

Jesus was willing to accept weakness for the purpose of displaying the power of God. God asks us to do the same.

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8)

We are to have the same attitude that Jesus had when He humbled Himself by taking on flesh and dying on the cross. Paul said twice that his thorn was to "keep me from exalting myself" (2 Cor 12:7). Being selfish and proud is the exact opposite of being Christ-like.

God told both Paul and Jesus "no". If God is answering my prayers in a similar way, perhaps God is teaching me to humble myself and rely upon Him.

Conclusion

I do not know how God will answer my prayer. He very well may deny my requests. If He does, then I am in good company. God also answered both Jesus and Paul with "no". Jesus' attitude of "not my will, but yours" is similar to the way Paul responds:

Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9b-10)

This time is difficult. Megan and I have both shed many tears. We know that this time will pass before we know it and will probably go by faster than we would like. We can, however, let God be strong for us. We can let His strength be displayed through our weaknesses.

The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD." (Job 1:21b)