When Weak Is Good – August 16, 2026

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To keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 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 12:7-10

When Weak Is Good

“That’s so weak!” If you’ve had that shouted your way, you know it usually isn’t a compliment. Weakness is normally not a trait that gets much praise.

God doesn’t give spiritual weakness any praise, either. Being weak to do what God wants leads to falling into sin. Does your spiritual weakness show itself by hating or lusting? Stealing or hurting others? Gossiping or cursing? That is sin. And God hates that kind of weakness.

In today’s Bible reading, the apostle Paul talked about a different kind of weakness, a physical weakness that God allowed to come into Paul’s life. We are not told exactly what it was, just that it was severe enough that Paul pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away. God’s answer: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

When Paul suffered from this physical weakness, in whom did he need to put his trust and hope? Who was his strength? Not himself! No, God was Paul’s strength and hope. God’s power carried Paul through thick and thin. At no time was this more evident than when he suffered from this weakness. Then God’s grace