The Sufficiency of Grace
"My grace is sufficient. My power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9)
It's so painful to watch my mother suffer. She is constant physical pain. Her mobility is limited, and she has lost some of her independence. In addition, her husband of 34 years past away a year ago. Her grief is great. Sometimes I wonder why God continues to allow her to be beaten down again and again.
Not often, but sometimes, I also look at my own sufferings and wonder why and how much longer I have to struggle with all of the addictions and temptations and 'issues' in my life.
John, in this first video, makes this statement, "He determines what time we would be born, what age, what year, what geographical location, and works all things together in order for us to have a circumstance which we might cry out to Him." I am not saying this is the answer to all suffering. But it's an answer that makes sense to me.
This past year I have been living in the sufficiency of God's grace. Before this year I didn't really understand what God meant by the idea of His grace being sufficient. But I've learned that, for me, it's crying out to God in my weakest moments of addiction and temptation and, in turn, God walking with me through them. He grants me power to get through each moment of struggle. And in spending so much time with Him in vulnerable honesty, I'm beginning to know Him intimately, to recognize His voice, His Truth, His Character, and His presence. So, maybe, that a reason He lets me suffer.
Maybe something like this is happening with my mother and God, too. Either way, I have to learn to trust in the grace of God.
Comments
I had similar thoughts surrounding my mother’s 1993–4 fight with cancer. I believe that God sometimes allows those we love to suffer so we can realize our own compassion and love, to bring families together, and for us to know that we are capable of the purest, deepest love that Jesus Himself showed was possible for us to express. When my uncle was diagnosed with cancer, it brought him to the Lord as a believer.
My father takes solace in the Book of Job in answering his questions about grief. I am not 100 per cent sure yet. I will admit that I have had times when I am annoyed at Him because I do not know why my mother lived a short life that had its share of suffering. Other times I am more balanced about it because I recognize that God has delivered many happy moments to me since 1994.
I like John’s video. He is definitely glorifying God in his testimony. He has an amazing level of trust and belief that surpasses that of many of us, and is an example to many of us. The Spirit flows through him strongly and his courage has allowed him to communicate to so many of us.