“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: 9-10
Paul had a weakness. A physical ailment of some sort that kept him from being 100%. He asked God to take away this weakness, but God refused, saying instead, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
It wasn’t that God couldn’t heal Paul, or that he enjoyed seeing him suffer. The weakness that Paul possessed kept him reliant on God at all times. Because of his condition, Paul couldn’t be independent – everything he did was through God’s strength moving within him. If Paul had been at 100%, would he have had to rely on God for everything? Would he have consistently remembered to ask God for new strength everyday? Maybe. But maybe not.
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