Boasting In Our Infirmities

                                                                                                                                           

Aloha Dearest Family,

                I want to share with you some of the things that God has been showing me in His Word.  In II Corinthians Paul 9 writes that he “boasts in his infirmities”. I didn’t really grasp what this meant for a while. Why would the Apostle Paul boast in his infirmities, his troubles. It seems like one wouldn’t want to tell people of the troubles and trials he was dealing with.

                I was first made aware of this verse when I learned of Paul’s ‘thorn in the flesh” (II Corinthians 12:7). At that time I learned that this ‘thorn in the flesh’ that Paul was dealing with, were the “people” that were causing him distress. He states that this ‘thorn in the flesh’ was sent from satan to buffet him, or to finish him off. These people that Paul had to deal with day after day, and in every city, made his life very difficult. So Paul went to the Lord three separate times and asked Him to remove this thorn from him. But instead of this ‘thorn in the flesh’ be removed from him, the Lord told Paul,

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”                         (II Corinthians 12:9)

The Lord told him, don’t worry Paul, for my grace is all you need. This is a great lesson in life. God’s grace is more than enough to get us through any situation we may be faced with. But Paul’s next statement puzzled me for a long time.

                “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my infirmities, 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.” (II Corinthians 12:9 and 10)

For a while I couldn’t wrap my head around this statement. How could Paul “boast in his infirmities”?

                God then led me to what Paul had said in the previous Chapter, when Paul first used the phrase ”I boast in my infirmities”. In the later part of this chapter, Paul mentioned some of his infirmities that he experienced throughout his travels,

                “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, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.” (II Corinthians 11:24-27) 

We can clearly see that Paul had faced his share of trials and tribulations. Few of us can say that we have been through even some of what Paul had experienced in his travels to bring the Gospel to others. But in verse 30 he writes,

“If I must needs boast, I will boast of the things which concern mine infirmities.”

When we read about his trials and tribulations, how can he “boast concerning his infirmities?”

                If we look at verse 32 and 33, we see that Paul recounts a time in his life when he was in Damascus and a contract was out on his life.

“In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.” (Also see Acts 9: 23-25).

I always wondered why Paul would tell us this story at the end of this chapter? It is because Paul could boast of how God helped him when his life was in danger. Throughout his life Paul had many stories to tell of how, in every situation that he went through, God was there to help him. This is what he boasted in. Not the horrible circumstances that he found himself in, but how in every one of them, the Lord was there. The Lord’s grace was surely all he needed.
 
Anyone who has walked with God for any amount of time can tell you stories of God’s saving hand in situations of life that come up. My wife and I can tell you numerous examples of God’s help and miracles throughout our lives. And it’s not because we were so special, but we believed in His loving kindness toward us and we knew that we could trust Him that He would come through when we needed Him. And He does. Every time! This is what we boast in and tell others about. I think of the following verses,

 “You exalted me above my foes; from a violent man you rescued me. Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name.” (Psalms 18:28 and 29)

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” (Psalm 34;19)

“He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me,” (Psalm 18:17-19)

This is worth boasting about. God and His eagerness to help us and rescue us when we call out to Him. This is truly how Paul could say ‘For when I am weak, then I am strong’. Because the power was not his, but the Lord’s .

It always amazes me to think that, in ourselves, we are really nothing special. We are just ordinary people. But we have an extraordinary God!!

“Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;” (II Corinthians 3:5)

                                                                Love Always, Ray