The Sufficiency of God

Today's Reading

Read 2 Corinthians 12:7-10: "So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

Then read Philippians 4:19: "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

Reflection

Paul was arguably the greatest apostle who ever lived. He had seen the risen Christ. He had been caught up to the third heaven. He had planted churches across the Roman Empire. And he had a thorn in the flesh that would not go away.

We do not know what the thorn was — a physical ailment, a recurring temptation, a persistent adversary. Paul does not say, and perhaps that is deliberate. The vagueness allows every reader to insert their own thorn — the thing you have begged God to remove and He has not.

Paul pleaded three times. The prayer was sincere, fervent, and specific. And God's answer was not removal but replacement: not "I will take it away" but "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." God did not give Paul what he asked for. He gave him something better — a deeper experience of divine sufficiency in the very place of ongoing weakness.

Packer's treatment of this theme in Knowing God is deeply pastoral. "God is enough for man's total need," he writes. "His grace is sufficient, His provision complete." But Packer also insists on realism: "The life of faith means learning to live with unfulfilled desires and unanswered questions, while holding fast to the sufficiency of God's grace." Sufficiency does not mean that every problem is solved, every pain removed, and every question answered. It means that God Himself — His presence, His grace, His power — is enough to sustain you through whatever He calls you to endure.

Paul's response is astonishing: "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." He does not merely accept his weakness. He boasts in it. Why? Because weakness is the context in which God's power is most visibly displayed. When you are strong, you rely on yourself. When you are weak, you rely on God — and His power rests upon you like a tent sheltering a traveler.

Going Deeper

Philippians 4:19 promises that God "will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Notice: every need, not every want. The God who withholds no good thing (Psalm 84:11) sometimes withholds the thing we think is good, because He knows that our deeper need is not relief but reliance — not the removal of the thorn but the revelation of His sufficiency.

What is your thorn today? Bring it to the God who says, "My grace is sufficient for you," and dare to believe Him.