30 Day Devotional Journey - Anchored in Hopeنموونە

My grace is sufficient for you

Paul is in peak ministry mode. He’s been jailed, stoned and left for dead. His visions and principles for spiritual growth are changing nations. He has much to be proud of. That’s why this passage is one of the most potent moments of humility ever inked to a parchment.

Just prior to today’s passage, Paul references a thorn in his side. This thorn is no small barb. Paul employs the Greek word for the large spike travellers use to secure their tents against the gale force desert winds. He has good reason to ask for this spike to be taken from him. And yet there is no deliverance.

So what variety of loving God does not answer the prayers of this super-servant? What does this say about Paul’s value to God? What more could Paul have done to get relief?

God is responding. He’s sustaining Paul through his life-altering affliction. In Paul’s daily survival against the odds, he’s bearing witness to God’s goodness. Whatever Paul’s affliction was, his travels, writings and pastoral care could never be attributed to Paul’s talent, ingenuity or persistence alone. He is fully reliant on the full measure of God’s goodness and power.

To pray a prayer for God’s sustaining power—instead of deliverance—is hard. It’s not human. That’s what makes Paul’s life so powerful a testimony to God’s goodness. How would our relationship with our Father change if we prayed for the strength to endure more than we pray for deliverance? How would our world be different?

Written by DWAYNE JEFFRIES