Sufficient Grace
Grace- Undeserved favor or merciful kindness that cannot be earned.
When I sit back and really examine my life; I can see God’s grace all over it. To look back and see God’s protection, provisions, graciousness, love and patience towards me before I even knew Him, is very humbling. Especially considering certain scenarios in my life that could have and should have turned out differently. But even as a believer, I still need the grace of God just as much as I did before I knew Him. If not more because back then I didn’t know any better, but now I do. Truth is, His grace has been keeping me this entire time. If you’re reading this, it’s safe to say that His grace has kept you too -whether you realize it or not.
Reminiscing on the past grace over my life, keeps me reminded of the available grace that carries me through from day to day.
Though we sometimes believe that grace was a thing of the past or a gift for the future, there is in fact grace for the present. Grace to raise that child. Grace while on the job. Grace to deal with difficult people. Grace in tough circumstances. Grace in uncertainty. And grace to just be you - a perfectly imperfect human being who needs the power of God daily. It’s a good thing that grace cannot be earned but how often do we actually remember that? Not as often as we should. I am convinced that is the reason God provided us with the encouragement in His Word that reminds us that “His grace is sufficient.” Some translations say, “My grace is all you need.” Let’s read it in our focus verse.
2 Corinthians 12:8b-9a says,
8 “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
I admire how God used such relatable people in His Word. Flawed men and women like you and I. In 2 Corinthians Paul expresses that there was some sort of burden or limitation placed in him to prevent him from being prideful. In verse 8, we see Paul begging God to remove the burden, whatever it was. I can definitely relate.
If you are familiar with Paul, you know that he was souled out and completely committed to the work of Jesus Christ. He faced persecution after persecution for boldly spreading the message of the Good News of Jesus and nothing stopped him unto death. So to see him here “pleading with God to take his burden away” is pretty surprising. But also commendable.
Can you remember a time when you asked for God to completely take you out of a dreadful situation but instead, He gave you strength to endure it? That’s what was happening here in Paul’s encounter with God. It’s not that God wanted Paul to suffer. He did however, want to strengthen, cultivate character, and display His great power through Paul’s unfavorable circumstances.
My favorite bible commentator, David Guzik said it like this:
“Instead of taking away the thorn, God strengthened Paul under it, and God would show His strength through Paul’s apparent weakness. To do this, Paul had to believe that God’s grace is sufficient. We really don’t believe God’s grace is sufficient until we believe we are insufficient. For many of us, especially in American culture, this is a huge obstacle. We are the people who idolize the “self-made man” and want to rely on ourselves. But we can’t receive God’s strength until we know our weakness. We can’t receive the sufficiency of God’s grace until we know our own insufficiency.
Grace could meet Paul’s need because it was the very strength of God.. Relying on God’s Grace along with extending it to others is not weak or wimpy. Instead, it is the power of God to fulfill what we lack.”
I suppose we have been so conditioned to be so tough, that the thought of completely depending on God can seem like a bit much -especially if it involves waiting. But the fact of the matter is that everything we need is found in Him anyway.
For some of us, God has personally positioned resources and people in our lives to help us but we become so fearful of rejection that we forfeit His help. But remember, we don’t have to put all of our trust in people, we can instead trust God to help us discern every relationship and use His wisdom to help us effectively utilize the resources.
His grace is sufficient to cover our doubts, fear, sin, and shortcomings, like it did for Paul.
In fact, Paul discovered so much satisfaction in his weakness + God’s grace, that he ended Verse 9 with great hope found in Christ’s power. He says, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
What a hard yet beautiful picture of surrender. To be weak in our own strength and let the power of Christ REST on us. To brag about our weakness and boast in the power Christ’s gives. It’s so simple that it sounds complex. But I’ll just say it like this..
Our best efforts without God pales in comparison our weakness with God. I’d much rather leave God room to fulfill my weak areas than to take on the pressure of perfectionism and self reliance. Find someone else to do it and call me weak link!
But seriously, underestimating His willingness to grace us, forgive us, assist us, love us and empower us; has to become a thing of the past if we want to truly live the abundant lives, Jesus came to give us. We can start by depending on God more, asking for His help in any area, crying out to Him if need be and recognizing being weak with Him keeps us from operating in pride and also gives Him space to move in a major way. A way that produces far greater results than our own. We need only to rest in His grace that is sufficient and the strength that is made perfect in our weakness!
Where do you currently need Yahweh’s grace today?
Let’s start by asking Him to grace us through this day and to clothe us in His strength.
Let’s pray:
Dear Lord, thank You for this day. I ask that You’d cover it in grace and clothe me in Your strength like You did for Paul. Help us to neglect our self reliance for the power that You so freely offer us. Carry us through the obstacles that aren’t in Your will for You to remove. Thank You Lord for all that You have provided and will provide through Your marvelous grace.
In Jesus’s name, amen.
