03/07/2026
How strong are we bodily, and how strong is our faith? Does the strength of our physical bodies reflect the power of our faith? To answer this let’s consider the words of the apostle Paul. Perhaps we are battling an illness, or a deformity that cripples us, and our prayers for this to be healed or removed are seemingly falling on deaf ears. When our bodies suffer and become frail this can actually become the time of our greatest dependence on God, and as such an aid in reaching the height of our faith.
“But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ESV
In another verse Paul tells us that he prayed on three occasions that his thorn be removed from his side, but, as we read in our scripture, God said no, and that His grace was sufficient.
“Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.”
2 Corinthians 12:8 ESV
We are not all struck with a physical weakness, or malady, but for those of us who are, it can be more than a teaching tool, it can be a lasting blessing. This blessing can teach us a lesson of faith and then retreat, or perhaps it will remain with us as a constant reminder. Whichever it is, whether we are weakened and struck down for a season like Paul was with blindness, or given a thorn in the flesh that will last a lifetime, we are meant to see the blessing there. I have encountered both in my life. I have experienced illnesses that have come and gone, bones that have broken and then healed, but I also have been plagued with thorns that are too deeply rooted to be removed and that I will struggle with the rest of my life. You will find that if you live a long life, then at some time in it you are likely to be like Paul in both these regards.
So, as we face our thorns, or walk through the temporary valleys of life, how will we approach them? Will we remain planted on the earthly side, put down roots, and stay there as the captives of what ails us, or will we claim the humility and blessing they are meant to bring us? Will we use these tools of humility and suffering as a bridge to increase our faith or will we be defeated by them? Will the hardships we are facing be allowed to humble us spiritually and increase our faith... or will they reign over us as they drag us down and imprison us?
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Psalm 73:26 ESV
I have two long-term hardships that plague me, one is a progressive form of tremor that I have had since I was young, and the other is a form of cancer that was discovered in my mid-sixties. The tremor will never go away and has progressed to the early stages of Parkinson’s disease, but the cancer was removed from my body, and I am now vigilant in watching for any sign of its return. Both of my bodily ills have brought me closer to God as I have placed myself in His arms. They have assaulted me physically but as I have persevered in prayer and persisted in worship they have given me great spiritual strength.
God uses our weaknesses to His great advantage. In sharing my cancer experience with others God has opened a wonderful avenue by which I can speak to many who have cancer about my faith, and Jesus Christ.
A few years ago, I wrote an open letter to a cancer patient as a part of a program called “A Letter to Me.” My letter tells the story of how I battled against cancer, and gives hope, encouragement, and speaks of faith to those who need it. The Sarah Cannon Cancer Institute has used this letter nationwide as a tool in treating its patients. I was further invited by them to read this letter and discuss my experiences with cancer during a videotaped interview with my son who is also a cancer survivor. What is amazing is that although I mentioned faith in a rather short and very generic way, almost every email I received requests prayer, and refers to an increase in their own faith in Jesus, or asks a question about my personal journey of faith and the gospel of Christ. My humbling infirmity not only strengthened my own faith, but is now being used by God to reach the lives of many more. Our God is indeed great, and His ways are mysterious and wonderful.
My tremor, on the other hand, is obvious and restricts my ability to write with a pen. I am thankful for computers (and smart phones) because without them I would not be able to communicate my thoughts in writing. One Sunday afternoon following the baptism of two of my grandchildren, we went as a family to a nearby Shoney’s restaurant for lunch. After our meal I took my check to the register and handed it to the cashier. He was older, and as I found out later, he was the manager of the restaurant. He printed out the receipt, and I tried unsuccessfully to fill it in, so I quietly asked him if he could write in the amount of the tip for me. He did so, then he leaned over the counter and in a low voice asked me if he could pray for my tremor. I never refuse the offer of prayer, and he took my hands between his and proceeded to pray for me. His prayer blessed me, and I felt the presence of God in that place. I know, from all of the times I have prayed for others, that it blessed him as well. You see, our infirmities humble us and make us tools in God’s hands.
“Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.”
Romans 6:13 ESV
So, what appears to be a handicap, or a threat to our very lives can strengthen our own faith, and the faiths of so many that come in contact with us; they become spiritual avenues into the heart and soul; they humble us and require that we place ourselves in God’s strong hands. That day in Shoney’s I had to swallow my pride to ask for help, but God showed me that it was exactly what He wanted from me... my submission and humility. And in my “Letter to Me”, I opened up the embarrassing subject of testicular cancer, but God took that and used it to broadly touch souls, and bring them to Him through Jesus Christ.
We face such things as pain, fear, hardship, addiction, cancer, Parkinson’s, and a myriad of other ailments, but God uses each of them to circumcise hearts, to humble us, and to deliver the Gospel of Jesus. So just like Paul let’s boast in our weaknesses because through them God is strengthened within us, and our faith abounds. Are you ready to face the truth in your own ailments? Are you prepared to hear the voice of God in the midst of the thorns you find yourself surrounded by?
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.””
Romans 10:17-18 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for my weaknesses and my infirmities. I thank you for just the right amount of strength you give me to continue my walk each day with your Son Jesus despite the pain, and the suffering I endure. I thank you for humbling me so that my own pride, self-assuredness, and personal strength don’t become stumbling blocks for the faith of others, or myself. Help me to learn from Paul's life that my weakness is your strength, and that I can do mighty things for your kingdom because of them, not in spite of them. I find you standing behind every hardship, and feel your hands lifting me as I stumble along. Speak to me in whispers, rushing winds, and joy, but also let me hear your voice from within the sobs of my sorrow, the suffering cries of my wounds, and the moans of despair during my days of lamentation. Holy Father, let your strength increase in my weakness, and my faith in you soar, even as my earthly body limps, and falls. Help me Father to be a beacon of light through my frailty, and draw many to you. Your grace is indeed sufficient for me, and in it my humility completes your plan for my life, and my faith sings out! Holy, Holy, Holy art thou!!!
Hallelujah and Amen!
Rich Forbes