A Divine Appointment…

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. 

Definitely NOT the world’s advice… to the world, being weak is for sissies. Being weak makes you a victim – a bloody mess just waiting to happen. And I would agree if it is done purely as an excuse to not stand up for yourself and others. I would agree if it is all about you and your strength, with no inner claim to divine help.

Do you see the secret? “I implored the Lord”… “the power of Christ may dwell in me”… “well content – for Christ’s sake”. No, this should never be undertaken for the sake of a show of religious piety. It should never be done as an attempt to ingratiate ourselves to God. It can never be accomplished outside of a deep, intimate, relationship with the One True God.

I shiver to ask for this kind of intimacy… I know it will be tested. It will be perfected and perfection always requires the furnace, it always requires building muscles, and it will always be the target of our enemy who is angered to the extreme by Emmanuel… God with us.

We have the life of Paul to give us a picture or our enemy’s war against us…

2 Corinthians 11:24-28 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. 

When he was an enemy of the cross, he was the one doing the damage. When he was on the wrong side of our battle he was protected by the army he commanded, to search out and kill the people who walked with Jesus. When he was the bully, he would’ve (and did) laughed at those who believed God in the midst of Paul’s rampage. He was the what our world is becoming today. He made our enemy, his master at the time, happy happy.

Until he met Jesus… and boy did he meet Jesus! Acts 9:3-5 As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him;  and he fell to the ground (how’s that for taking a bully down without a punch?) and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” (not our standard Sinner’s Prayer) And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,”

Have you met Jesus? Because our rebellion… our independence… our sin is no different from Saul’s. In our rejection of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are persecuting Him over and over!

This Saul, who took evil glee in persecuting Christians,  is the same Paul who gladly boasted in his weakness… He was changed when he met Jesus! Not all of us will be called to experience the provision of God in the same way as Paul (THANK YOU Jesus!) but we all will be changed and we will be trained up in the way we should go (Proverbs 22:6), once we do meet Him.

How will we know we have met Him? Just like Saul/Paul… by the changes in our heart… Philippians 4:11-13 for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Instead of judging God and His love for us by what He gives and does for us according to OUR desires, we know with all our hearts, in all our tears, by every breath we take…that… God is good all the time, and, all the time God is good (“God’s Not Dead”)!

By all means and in everything we are to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17) but we are also to give thanks in EVERYTHING (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Everything? Even the hard/horrendous times? I shiver and shake… but yes! YES! But… not because of the suffering but because of what Jesus is/will do with it. Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work for good to those who love God… we are thankful that He… God is in control.

What then shall we say to these things (life happenings)?

If God is for us, who is against us?

Who will bring a charge against God’s elect?

Who is the one who condemns?

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Romans 8:37-39 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, or depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.

Now that is ENCOURAGEMENT!! A Divine Appointment INDEED…

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB  version of the Bible