Seeds for 08/08/2024 - Yield - 2 Corinthians 12:7b-10
In this series on prayer and scripture, we are following the acronym P.R.A.Y. as a guide for prayer. We are considering scriptures throughout the Bible on each theme. My prayer is that studying scriptures on these themes will give us biblical words to use as our own and simple insights for our praying.
Scripture:
Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 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.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Observation:
Paul’s remarks in this short passage are an incredible example of a process of getting to a yielded place with the Lord in prayer. Here are my observations.
First, Paul attributes his ailment to a positive working of the Lord in his life. Paul’s perspective is such that in hindsight, knowing that God is for him not against him, he interprets an obstacle as for his good.
Second, he earnestly prays for the Lord to remove this “thorn in the flesh.” He is honest and forthright with God about his desire for this negative thing to be removed from him.
Third, Paul receives a word from God and submits to the lesson God is teaching him. Paul had seen this “thorn in the flesh” as an impediment to his Gospel work. But now he sees that it creates an opportunity to see the power of God displayed in and through him more fully.
Fourth, Paul—typical for him—not only submits to the lesson, he wholeheartedly embraces it. “For Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Yielding in this way allows God to work even more powerfully through Paul. Paul’s prayer was answered in the negative. But Paul ultimately understood it for the positive that it was.
Application:
When has an unanswered prayer, or a prayer answered with a “no,” later be revealed to be the better answer for your life?
When have you recognized God was teaching you a lesson you needed? What made it hard or easy to receive that lesson?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, you grace is sufficient for us, so help us open up and let your power be made perfect in our weakness. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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