Cornerstone verses!

Love my time with the Word.  Sometimes I get very little out of a reading.  But some days it seems like the whole thing was written just for me.  Today was one of those days.  I think I got somewhere around 6 new things to write about in the coming days.  Very cool.

Now on to the verse that spoke loudest to me today. 

2 Corinthians 12:9(NKJV)

9And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 

I don't know about you but there are a few select verses that really shape my overall belief in and understanding of God.  This is one of those verses. 

Before I explain why this verse is important to me let me talk about another one to set the stage.

I'm not going to bother to look it up but it is where God asks Solomon what he wants.  Solomon asks for wisdom and knowledge so he can be a good King.  Because he asked for that instead of wealth and glory, God gave him wisdom and knowledge as well as wealth and glory. 

I have always admired that and tried to follow it in my prayer life.  That is why I have such a hard time asking for things specifically for me when I pray, even though Scripture in places tells us we should pray for specific things.  I just keep praying for wisdom and knowledge and guidance.  

The second reason I have a hard time praying for specific things in my prayer life is that Scripture tells us that God has a plan for our lives and already knows what we need.  In fact Scripture tells us that God will equip us to achieve every good work that He has planned for our lives. 

Because of that I tend to defer to God's judgment of what I need.  He's got it all under control.  I trust Him.  Much of my prayer time is just spent say "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, for all that you already do for me.   Please let me know what else you want me to do for you!"

Which brings me to the verse above.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

That verse makes it hard for me to pray for relief from medical issues (not that I am suffering from anything really big right now or anything). 

Let me give an example.  I got my right eye shot out with a BB gun when I was in the 5th grade, 11 years old.  I have been blind in my right eye since then.  A lot of people thought it was a really tragic thing to have happen.  To me it just wasn't that big of a deal.  God's grace more than makes up for the missing eye. 

So as I age and start to experience things like parts of my body hurting for no reason, I try to just take it in stride.  I just trust that God has it all under control. 

I don't ask Him to take away this issue or that issue.  He knows what I need already.  He knows what needs to be healed so that I can continue to fulfill His plan for my life and He also knows what He can let slide.  After all, He doesn't need me to live forever. 

His grace can again overcome any weakness that my body may be experiencing.  I don't need to whine to Him about it.  Does that make sense?

As I mentioned above, I realize that there are plenty of other Scriptures that I can point to that tell me to ask for specific things, or to ask for healing.  However for my particular walk with God, these are the Scriptures that hold more sway with me.