Sufficient Grace
By Susan Klein
“But He said to me, ‘My Grace is sufficient for you,
for
my power is made perfect in weakness.’”
Although
a commonly recited verse, the above Scripture’s true meaning eluded me until
recently. I’ve always understood it to mean that no matter the circumstance or
trial I face, God’s grace will see me through. Sounds about right, doesn’t it?
Reading
the words of a respected pastor this week, I enjoyed the insight he gave into
the Greek portrayal of this verse. He noted that the word order was slightly
different than the English version. It reads, “Sufficient for you is the grace
of Me.” See the subtle yet important difference? In other words, “I Am the grace,” not “I will give you proportionate grace.”
This
seemed to open my eyes to the fact that God does more than just say, “Oh, today
you are struggling with ______, so I will give you _____ amount of grace, but
tomorrow will be a light day so you may not need as much grace.” Quite the
contrary. He says, “I Am your sufficient Grace, and I Am always with you in
every situation, being enough in all things and at all times, good or bad.”
He
goes on to assure us that His power is made “perfect” in our weakness. I really
don’t like this verse! Who wants to be weak?! I hate being weak and having to
rely on His power. But, let’s face it. We’re all weak. We have no real strength
of our own. Our only strength is Him, in us. The word “perfect” here denotes a
“finished work,” or “fulfillment.” It doesn’t mean what we know of the human
standard of perfection. It means that
God, in us, is achieving a finished work and fulfilling His perfect plan.
In
the context of this verse, Paul is asking God to remove a thorn that he sees as
an obstacle to his ministry. (Perhaps you’ve uttered a similar request of God?)
God essentially says, “No, Paul, I am in you. Even in your humanly weakened
state, you are perfectly fulfilled because I am in you. You have all that you
need to do what I require of you.” Paul gets it! He goes on in the subsequent
verses to say that he will “boast all the more gladly about [his]
weaknesses.” He will “delight in
weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.”
Paul
truly grasps the concept of “sufficient grace.”
Do you?
GOING
DEEPER:
1.
Next time you feel too weak for the task, try boasting (out loud) about God
being sufficiently enough.
2.
Not sure, yet? Dig deeper!
FURTHER
READING:
Susan is
married to Mark, and has two adult children. She enjoys teaching Bible studies,
writing, and tutoring with the Literacy Council. She is a member of the Peace
Team at Oakwood.
