2 Corinthians 12

Bible Passage:  2 Corinthians 12

“And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor 12:9-10)

For the people of the world, such a statement by Paul may appear to make him a masochist. However, as Christians we know the spiritual implications and the motivation behind Paul’s statement. To the people of the world, nobody prides in weaknesses. People pride in strength, in brilliance and in beauty. When people fail or are weak, often they get ridiculed as losers. Is Paul a loser? On contrary, to him he is victorious when he is weak.

This begs the question. Do we feel that we are strong when we are weak? Do we feel the presence and Almighty hand of God in times of persecutions, in needs, in distresses? When is our faith strong? Often, we behave in contrary to Paul. Our faith degenerates when we face persecutions and trials. Some may even give up their faith so easily when they meet a stumbling block.

Paul like all the other apostles and believers of his time, met with tremendous persecutions in their lifetime as a Christian.

It is very fortunate for us living in Singapore not to even suffer such kind of persecutions that they underwent.  Even for some of us who went preaching at the doors met just verbal abuse that is nothing compared to the physical abuse and sufferings these believers have gone through.

The amazing thing though, despite of all these, Paul was able to rejoice and even to boast about it!

Perhaps a way for us to be strong in times of weaknesses is to constantly remind ourselves of the love of Jesus. Jesus was tempted like all of us but He did not sin. Jesus in the flesh, led a life way more uncomfortable and deprived than what we are enjoying today; at least we have a roof over our heads, a bed to sleep on and a nice cushy pillow. Jesus was able to succeed because of His reliance in prayer and faith.

Frankly, none of us would welcome trials and persecutions with open arms.

All of us would like to lead a blissful life whereby every matter is swiftly dealt. However, when trials do come, I guess the other way is to treat these trials as a test of our faith and to put our faith and trust in Jesus our Saviour.

Ok so instead of talking a lot of ‘sermon’ like blog, I would like to share a testimony.

My wife and I were in Israel for 3 months this year; it was also during the time of her pregnancy. The pregnancy was in the first and second trimester during our stay in that country. In honesty it was a challenge living there in terms of living a good life and in spirituality; my company provided accommodation much worst than a hotel or service apartment. I would thank God a lot for His providence and help during this period.

Other than the food being not very appetizing and the chill at night, my wife had serious constipation there. There were pains in her tummy and for days she could not go to the toilet. Through prayers together, we thank God that we were able to get fruit juice and Israel olive oil to help her get through this difficult time.

Finding a doctor in Israel was difficult as most of them cannot speak good English and also seeing a doctor in a clinic requires Israel insurance, which she did not have. Furthermore, the female doctors, handled patients roughly perhaps because they went through army.

Therefore, the only reliance we had was God and through these tests, we put our heartfelt prayers for His mercy. During one of the nights, she had real bad stomach cramps, and through prayers, thank God the cramps went away.

Every day we had a least 15min of prayer to help us get through the life there. It was tough spiritually also because there was no church to go on Sabbath. So we had our own family service of singing hymns, prayers and Bible Reading in the barn (yes.. no joke.. it used to be a barn) we lived.

Actually, through this we learn that we are very blessed to go church on Sabbath day. As when we observe the Sabbath (Shabbat in Hebrew) the entire day in church, we do receive a lot of spiritual food and will be able to concentrate in our worship to God. It would be good that everywhere there is TJC; although I did try to preach to the Jews but guess it was not God’s will for them yet to be saved.

Towards the middle of our stay in Israel, there was a week or so where my wife was bleeding during the second trimester. It was pretty worrying as this should not be happen and it could be a sign of miscarriage.

In one of our prayers, I heard a voice within me comforting me that my daughter will be fine and that she will be born healthy and strong. The voice told me not to be worried. I guess that voice was from the Holy Spirit, as it was not from my thoughts. I told my wife about it and she felt comforted. And now since my daughter is born 5 months later, truly she is born healthy and truly the voice that gave comfort to us is from the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah!

Through these tests in Israel, I felt that my wife and I have drawn closer to God and have put our faith to the test. Through her weaknesses, we could actually see the grace of God and truly the Grace of God is sufficient. Conversely, when we are strong, we will tend to slacken in our faith and prayers to Him. However, we should always be ready to put our trust in Jesus and to step up our faith in times of trials.

May all glory be given to God.