September 11 - 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 - Delighting in Difficulty

David Copperfield is the most successful magician of all-time. Forbes magazine puts his total earnings at about a billion dollars. He has had his own television specials at least fifteen times, and I imagine that is especially hard to sustain for an illusionist – because every year the trick has to better than last year’s trick. The illusion that stands out most to me, and mostly because it occurred the night before our first child was born, is the vanishing Statue of Liberty. Do you remember that? April 8, 1983. Watch …

 

I am sure that magicians feed off the challenge of the difficulty proposed by their illusions. How difficult would it be to actually move the Statue of Liberty off its pedestal and then put it back? Copperfield delighted in the difficulty.

The apostle Paul writes those same words to the Corinthians. “I delight in … difficulties.” He also delights in weakness, insults, hardship and persecution. But, this is different from the challenges of the master illusionist. The magician can anticipate the challenge, measure it and practice for it. In fact, most of the difficulty is manufactured. It is not so hard as it is made to look hard. Paul is saying, ‘I actually delight in the things that reveal my inadequacies,’ not the things that show my astonishing mastery. In fact, God had built into Paul a difficulty that he could never master; the thorn in his flesh. But Paul was glad for it and for all the difficulties of his life and missional work.

Paul’s difficulties helped him to accomplish four things – He says:

            It keeps people from thinking too highly of me. (They must revel in the astonishing Master. The One crucified yet alive forever more!)

            It keeps me from thinking too highly of myself. (How I would hate to have pride take over and become as one of the ‘super-apostles;’ pseudo-apostles is more like it.)

            It keeps me dependent on God’s grace. (I find Him to be faithful, caring, and unpredictably blessed in the most trying times of life.)

            It keeps me in a position of effectiveness by humbly making room for the power of Christ. (“When I am weak, then I am strong” is not a contradiction, it is a ‘cause and effect.’ When I'm honest and transparent about my inadequacies, I yield to the Lord and He supplies His utterly adequate strength!)

I don’t know what kind of difficulty you are wrestling with; perhaps you feel like the Statue of Liberty has been knocked down on top of you. But do not fear; the Lord loves you. He knows you are too weak for it. Be humble. Cry out for His aid. His grace and power are sufficient for you.

Pray: Unconquerable Christ, I put my trust in You. I know I have prayed for You to make me like you, but sometimes I forget that you suffered and so must I. Keep me near You, believing You and expecting that You will work all things together for my good. I am one of your called. I love You.