NOTES for Co2 12:1-10

People tend to experience their own weakness rather painfully. There is little they will not do in order to feel strong, significant, and worthy. We perceive weakness as our unfitness for anything good. And so we very readily use our own weakness to justify our unwillingness to resist evil. After all, what can we really do?

And now the Lord speaks these astonishing words to the apostle Paul. It is precisely in this weakness, when you yourself can do nothing, that the power of God reaches its fullness. This is very consoling: you need not fear your weakness. More than that, it turns out that a person's significance and strength consist in not seeking his own greatness, but in making room for this power of God. To do this, it is important to consent to being weak—for the sake of God and His power. It is also important to accept that whatever you do will be done not by you, but by God. And the merit will be God's. Thus you will become a participant in His life and His work, and they are eternal.