But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.

2 Corinthians 4:7

Sometimes I feel an urge, or a leading, to write about something but then the words just won’t come – or at least not words that adequately get to the heart of what is on my mind. It’s not so much “writers’ block” as it is the understanding that some things exist on a plane where even the best words inevitably fall short.

This is the case with me, and it was also the case – I believe – with the Apostle Paul when he wrote the first section of 2 Corinthians 12.  “I know that such a person—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows— was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told…”

His spiritual experience was very real to him but the moment he started to write about it he realized that it was going to sound braggadocios, or hyperbolic or inauthentic.

But then, as if this is literally a conversation in real time, he understands where he wants to be going with his thoughts and he lands beautifully: “‘My grace,‘” Paul references God as assuring all of us, “‘is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me…”

This is where I live as a teacher. I do the prep work, I pray about it, I outline some notes, and then I stumble around trying to get an idea across or to at least point people in the right direction. And then God moves in…..

I believe that happened again this morning. Because I felt myself come to the end of my own understanding – and certainly eloquence – before something new took clear shape as I was stumbling around.

“It’s not that God trips us up, or engineers a place where we are floundering or lost or defeated, or intentionally makes our lives more difficult. It is more that we are invited to humble ourselves, to admit that we do not have the resources or the strength to pull things off by ourselves and to trust God. It is then that God works with us to create a path forward. Our best efforts and God’s faithfulness together.”

We were created to rely on one-another and to trust God. The “I can do it myself” “self-reliant” “pull myself up by my own bootstraps” “gut it through” approach to life misses the point of our creation and our relationship to The Creator.

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” – 2 Corinthians 12

I come to the end of myself, and the beginning of God – and then we move into tomorrow together – DEREK