“And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness,’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Cor. 12:9,10

The problem with trials, is that you are in a position of weakness. But, what is weakness, how does the world view weakness and what does God think about it?

“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I  be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.” 2 Cor. 12:7,8

Paul, one of the greatest Christians of all time, was in a situation where he was weak. In verse 7, he was given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him, lest he should be exalted above measure. He even pleaded with God three times for it to be taken away. And notice, he pleaded to God and not Satan because he knew ultimately Who gave him the trial, even though it was given through an evil messenger. God was in control and going somewhere with it.

How does the world view weakness? The world looks down on any weakness as a negative thing since it makes you lower than others by comparison. It makes you the tail and not the head, the one who is frail, feeble and needing help, not the one giving help. That position must be avoided at all costs according to a world that worships strength. The dictionary’s definition of weakness is, ‘the state or condition of lacking strength’. And this appears to be in direct contradiction to Paul’s assumption that there is strength in weakness.

Oddly enough, Paul doesn’t shun weakness either but embraces it, and even boasts in it. This goes completely against all nature and there has to be a reason for this reversal. So what does Paul mean when he says, ‘when I am weak, then I am strong’?

When Paul is in a state of weakness, that means his own strength is not sufficient, which again means he needs to access strength beyond his own to carry on. If his own strength were enough for his needs, then he would not need to look elsewhere for it. But since it is not, he chose to look up to God for divine strength instead which is infinitely stronger than the very strongest of the human strengths. So by being weak, the power of God could come through in a way it could not when he was leaning on his own because God’s strength can’t shine through when, human strength is being leaned on. It can only be perfected whenyou areweak. So, when Paul exchanged his weakness, to gain access to God’s strength, Paul was actually becoming much stronger, in the process.

What types of weaknesses need the power of Christ? Basically everything. Can we really cope on our own in any area of life? No, we only think we can. Being mortal means we have an inherent weakness, called sin that messes everything up. The strength of the cross takes care of the power of sin but we still need God in all areas of our life due to the weakness of being mortal, and often we don’t fully realize it. Yet, when we experience the weakness that comes from a trial, it is a gift that puts this whole truth into center focus to make people aware of their own great need for God. When this is realized and God’s strength comes in, things are flipped upside down and the tail becomes the head, the weak become the truly strong, the feeble become the great in God’s eyes because these weaknesses get the human out of the way so that the divine, that never fails, can come through.

God’s strength in weakness is so sufficient, that Paul prefers this to being naturally strong and never needing God. He owns the process, taking pleasure in it, even boasting about it. When he is boasting in his weakness he is really boasting in Christ’s strength by default. So precious is this to Paul that if given a choice, he would prefer infirmities, reproaches, needs, persecutions, and distresses for Christ’s sake because when he is weak, then he is truly strong.

So weakness, done right through divine exchange, is really strength.