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God
wants us to learn to depend on his strength
God allows us to have more than we can
handle with our own strength so that we can see Him handle the problems in life
for us
By John
Anderson
“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient
for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore
will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon
me.” -
2
Corinthians 12:9
Recently, I read an
article that used an ancient metaphor of a man that asked God to make him
stronger in order to be more useful.
The man was so
excited with anticipation that in the morning he would wake up with bulging
muscles and the strength of a lion that he could hardly sleep that night.
He woke up the next
morning and rushed to the mirror to see his physique only to find that he was
met by the same body he had gone to sleep in the night before.
He was
so disappointed that he cried out to God and was angry with Him. “You told
me you would answer my prayer in the morning and this morning, I am still the
same weak man I was the last night.”
God
answered the man, “Go outside and look in front of your door.”
In
front of the man’s door was a huge boulder. God spoke to the man and said “Push
the boulder.”
The man
complained and spoke of how impossible it would be to move such a rock, but God
insisted, “Push the boulder.”
The man pushed and
pushed but the boulder would not budge.
Every
night he prayed, “God make me stronger.”
And God
replied, “Push the boulder.”
For three years this
went on until finally one morning, the man awoke and went to the same mirror
that he had looked at with disappointment for the past three years, and noticed
his physique had changed and he had the muscles and strength that he had asked
God to give him for three years.
God answered his
prayer by giving him a problem that was bigger than he could handle.
This mythological
story illustrates the truth that the Apostle Paul gives to us in second
Corinthians chapter twelve.
Paul has been given
abundant revelations that no one has seen or experienced before.
His
fear is that he will be “exalted above measure” and lifted up in pride
and arrogance because of all that God has revealed to him.
God does a work of
grace in Paul’s life by giving him more than he can handle, He gives Paul a
thorn in the flesh that shat shows him his weakness.
Paul
was so overwhelmed by this thorn that he “besought the Lord thrice” to
remove this overwhelming burden, but God did not remove the thorn.
Instead, God allowed
that which was more than Paul could handle to cause Paul to come to the end of
his strength and begin to experience the strength and power of Almighty God.
Will God give you and
me more than we can handle?
Will He allow us to
be overwhelmed with the “thorns” and circumstances of life?
We have
to come to the place where Paul came to in 2 Corinthians 12:9: “And he said
unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in
weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the
power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Today, God may have
answered your prayer by giving you an overwhelming problem.
There may be a boulder
or a thorn that you see as a problem and hindrance to the answer of your
prayer.
The truth is, God may
have given you the boulder or the thorn as the answer to your prayer!
Don’t waste the trial
and overwhelming circumstances of life.
Allow our loving God
to use the problems that are greater than you can bear to develop your faith
and see God’s power and grace active in your life.
JOHN
ANDERSON
Pastor,
Pinecrest Baptist Church
John
Anderson serves as the pastor of Pinecrest Baptist Church in McDonough,
Georgia. He has served in both missions and church planting. His burden is to
assist, train, and partner with church planters, pastors, and missionaries
around the globe.
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