Author’s Note: Interested readers can find all previous volumes of this series here.
Thanks for joining us as we study one of my favorite Bible verses written by St. Paul. It is a formidable passage that appears in 2 Corinthians 12:10: “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” However, likely only those who believe in the comforting and healing power of Jesus Christ will benefit from and be inspired by Paul’s poignant testimony. In his magnificent poetic style, Paul conveys why we must trust in Jesus when we are suffering.
But first, I will explain why this weak/strong verse ranks high among my favorites and can be a powerful self-help mantra during times of stress and adversity.
Back in the mid-1990s, while amid a personal crisis, I flew across the country to an event where a close friend was speaking. It was a meaningful weekend, but when alone in my hotel room, I was shrouded with feelings of depression and doom. That was when I started saying aloud, “when I am weak, I am strong,” for about 10 minutes. Repeating the Scripture was an empowering experience that strengthened my faith and will to persevere.
Twenty-five years later, I recall that moment with a clear perspective and confidence that you too can draw strength from weakness by repeating Paul’s words in a mantra-like fashion.
Second, before we dive into the complete passage, it is essential to have a little background about Paul. If you are unfamiliar with him, he is credited with writing 13 of the 27 books that comprise the New Testament and is considered the world’s greatest Christian evangelist. But before all that, Paul was miraculously transformed from an influential Jewish leader who initially persecuted Jesus’s Jewish apostles and followers. For more details, you can refer to Vol. 60 and Vol. 61.
That said, here are the verses preceding, “For when I am weak, I am strong”:
“Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 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. 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” (2 Corinthians 12: 6-10).
There is much to unpack in these verses. But first, let’s read in Acts Chapter 9, where Jesus foretells Paul’s suffering as part of Saul’s conversion. (Saul was later renamed Paul.) The entire “Road to Damascus” conversion story is told in Vol. 60, but now the next two verses are key:
“But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’” (Acts 9:15-16). (Bold added for emphasis.)
And Paul DID suffer well beyond the capacity of ordinary men.
In 2 Corinthians 11:16-30, Paul detailed with a “little boasting” all he had endured having “been exposed to death again and again.” He wrote: “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,” and the list continues.
Scholars believe Paul’s death was also horrific. While imprisoned in Rome, he was thought to have been martyred by beheading in 64 AD during the reign of Emperor Nero.
In today’s study verses, Paul alludes to his past sufferings, but to keep him “from becoming conceited” he is especially empowered by “a thorn in his flesh” that he called “a messenger of Satan to torment me.” There has been much speculation about the specific malady to which Paul referred when he wrote how “three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.” (For extra credit, Google “St. Paul thorn in the flesh,” and you can read 20.9 million results proving that “Paul’s thorn” still generates interest.)
However, it’s the Lord’s answer about why He will not remove the thorn that Paul relishes, writing: “But he [the Lord] said to me ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” The Lord’s message inspires Paul to write a magnificent verse applicable to suffering believers: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
Next, Paul explains the joy of Christ’s power resting on him: “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.” Lastly, Paul summarized all he has endured triumphantly declaring: “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Therefore, if today you are “weak” due to a crisis or physical problem, pray about the Lord’s message to Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Then, internalize Paul’s response and empower yourself to overcome or deal with the hardship or malady by drawing upon the infinite healing power and strength of the Lord Jesus by repeating again and again: “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Amen!
Myra Kahn Adams is a media producer and conservative political and religious writer with numerous national credits. She is also Executive Director of www.SignFromGod.org, a ministry dedicated to educating people about the Shroud of Turin. Contact: MyraAdams01@gmail.com or Twitter @MyraKAdams.
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