Six Things I Am Thankful For - Day 5

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. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10 ESV).

Day 5: I am thankful for my inadequacies. It does sound a bit strange to be thankful for inadequacies; however, as the Apostle Paul tells us in our reading today, these things make us strong. In fact, it is only when we are weak that God’s strength can really be seen. He knew a great deal more about weakness than I do, though I must confess I have plenty of it to go around. About a month ago I had an accident in the woodshop and injured my right thumb badly. I am right-handed which only served to complicate the adjustments necessary as a result of the injury. It has healed very well. I am back in the shop. However, it is not as strong as it was. Apart from the physical deformity of the thumb, there are still some things that have not returned to “normal.” There is still a bit of pain from the nerve damage when I try to put any pressure on it and that is the root of the “inadequacy” I have now developed. I have discovered there are many things I took for granted previously, being able to do them with really thinking about it. They are small things like buttoning my shirt, or zippering my jeans; however, they are important things to me. What was once a strength, now is a weakness. Wonderfully, I have a very understanding wife who has helped with most things, and didn’t even question me when I asked her to get me a pair of pliers to use in buttoning and zippering my jeans! There are other things much more important that are a weakness emotionally or spiritually. It is in these areas that the strength of the Lord has most become visible. Perhaps the greatest of these is in changing my attitude about “why” things happen. The shift from “why” to “who” has brought incredible assurance and hope through all of it. Certainly Solomon understood this as well. He wrote: Lord, there is much about life that I don’t understand. But You didn’t ask me to understand, did You? You asked me to trust You, and You are trustworthy. You promise that You are working all things out – right now. I do trust in You, O Lord. (Proverbs 20:24).