2 Corinthians 12:9, reminds us that God’s grace is sufficient and that His power is perfected in our weaknesses. This may sound like an oxymoron but it’s true! I invite you to look at it this way, God literally reaches down in our weakness and picks us up! He provides the strength we need to make it through our struggles. He doesn’t always take them away, but He always carries us through!
The words made perfect in 2 Corinthians 12:9 mean “fully or entirely accomplished or made complete.” Christ’s power is made complete—it is able to fully accomplish its purpose—when His people are weak and depend on Him for strength. When we, like Paul, stop resisting and complaining and let the power of Christ rest on us, we make room to receive countless unexpected blessings from the Lord. By allowing God’s strength to be made perfect in our weakness, we have the opportunity to display God’s glory flawlessly.
The Bible gives several examples of God’s strength manifesting when His people are weak. Moses, the great leader of Israel, was deeply aware of his human shortcomings (Exodus 4:10). When the Lord called him to go to Pharaoh, Moses cried, “I’m not adequate. Please send someone else!” But God replied, “Go anyway, Moses, because I will be with you” (see Exodus 4:12–15).
I Corinthians 1:27 teaches, “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” We must never shrink away from God because of our weakness but run to Him, letting Him equip, encourage, empower, and inspire us to accomplish His will. We must remember His promise: “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:29–31).
At the end of the day, God’s great power and sufficiency will always rest on us as we find our strength in Him, and He is glorified. We can whole honestly say with the psalmist, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26).
4GIVEN 