As Paul struggled with weakness caused by his “thorn in the flesh,” God peeled back the curtain, so to speak, to let Paul know what He was doing. Through Paul’s hardship (and perhaps it was what you struggle with now!), God was making His power apparent.
Elisabeth Elliot, widow of missionary Jim Elliot, who was martyred in Ecuador in 1956, speaks about suffering and weakness: “The experience of weakness puts us in the position of seeking another’s strength” (1990), and that strength is God’s. Charles Spurgeon paints a beautiful word-picture of how God is glorified when we seek His strength: “Our infirmities become the black velvet on which the diamond of God’s love glitters all the more brightly” (1863).
Though my stroke has left me feeling weak and vulnerable, indeed God has given me the grace to somehow keep moving forward and to rely on His perfect strength through prayer. All of us who are weakened by suffering can pray that God will give us opportunities to point to Him as the incomparable source of our strength.