Devotional Journal: Reflection on 2 Corinthains 12:1-10
It is comforting knowing that the grace of God will always be sufficient. It is displayed in many ways even in an unpopular way like pain. Pain used by the enemy is pleasure but in the hands of God it is a tool of grace. Grace that sustains us, grace that humbles us. Pain can indicate us getting too close to a boundary that if we crossed it would not be good for us. It can also reveal our frailty, knowing that total dependence on God is not weakness but strength.
Thorns, they prick and puncture. Uncomfortable, painful, and annoying at times. If we continue to focus on them, it seems as though the pain magnifies. What if we were more like Paul? Who boasted in them? How will our perspective change? Will we give God more praise instead of cursing? Will we view this pain as grace instead of punishment? Can we seek to grab hold of His strength that is perfected in weakness? Maybe..just maybe the way we perceive pain can determine how we will endure pain.
I am by no means endorsing self-inflicting pain or seeking pain through other means. What I speak of is pain that happens when being in the will of God. Doing good and the reward received was something not pleasurable and unexpected. The Glory of God does not only shine in peaceful environments but also in painful ones. A display of ultimate pain, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The pain He endured was unimaginable, but the glory on the other side of that pain is something that cannot be compared.
12 I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. 3 And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 4 and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. 5 On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses— 6 though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. 7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 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. 10 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.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2025. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
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