Strength In Weakness

STRENGTH IN WEAKNESS

a prayer to open

Holy Spirit, come. Center my heart.

Fill my mind. Guide my steps.

Once we were safe on shore, we learned that we were on the island of Malta. The people of the island were very kind to us. It was cold and rainy, so they built a fire on the shore to welcome us.

As Paul gathered an armful of sticks and was laying them on the fire, a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, bit him on the hand. The people of the island saw it hanging from his hand and said to each other, “A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live.” But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed. The people waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn’t harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god.

Near the shore where we landed was an estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and treated us kindly for three days. As it happened, Publius’s father was ill with fever and dysentery. Paul went in and prayed for him, and laying his hands on him, he healed him. Then all the other sick people on the island came and were healed. As a result we were showered with honors, and when the time came to sail, people supplied us with everything we would need for the trip.

It was three months after the shipwreck that we set sail on another ship that had wintered at the island. . . . Our first stop was Syracuse, where we stayed three days. From there we sailed across to Rhegium. A day later a south wind began blowing, so the following day we sailed up the coast to Puteoli. There we found some believers, who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome.

The brothers and sisters in Rome had heard we were coming, and they came to meet us. . . . When Paul saw them, he was encouraged and thanked God.

When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to have his own private lodging, though he was guarded by a soldier.

How was Paul still standing when he reached the shores of Malta? He had been through so many trials: “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. . . . I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked” (2 Corinthians 11:24-27, NIV). Of course, he’d also been in prison multiple times and dragged in chains before various officials to defend himself. And then he was bitten by a snake! How did he have the energy to heal every sick person on the island? As we see later in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Paul discovered that in his weakness, he found God’s power—and that power was unmatched and unending.

• Read this passage again. What word or phrase stands out to you? Then sit quietly, reminding yourself that you are in God’s loving presence, and ask him to show you how that word or phrase connects to your life.
• Reflect on a time you felt God’s strength in your weakness. How would you describe to a friend what you experienced?
• In what area of your life do you need God’s strength because you have reached a point of weakness? What would be one way to invite him into that area?

Father, thank you that you are always strong and offering your strength to me. I know I tend to rely on my own ability and skill in certain areas and miss inviting you into those places, and I can forget to turn myself over to you in times of weakness, too. I want to live with the expectancy of experiencing your supernatural power. Amen.