What is your weak spot?  Perhaps you have some sort of physical disability.  Maybe your ears can’t hear so well.  Maybe you feet don’t work as they should.  Maybe you must live your lives every day dealing with terrible aches and pains.  What is your weak spot?  For many of you, perhaps words cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and diabetes are far too familiar to you.  Maybe one of these is your weak spot.

Maybe you are suffering from some sort of psycological weak spot.   Possibly you have some sort of overwhelming fear or phobia.  Perchance you have some sort of financial weak spot.  Could it be that the daily struggle to make ends meet has become too much for some of us to handle?

Maybe you are suffering some sort of interpersonal weak spot.  Maybe your not sure how to deal with conflicts that have arisen at home with your spouse, your parents, your children, or other members of your family.  Myabe certain people at work or at school rub you the wrong way, trying both your patience and your faith.  Maybe the wickedness of the world weighs heavey on your heart.  Perhaps you wonder how God could be active in a world that seems so ungodly.  What is your weak spot?

Everyone has a weak spot.  This was the Psalmist found the ungodly people of his society difficult to deal with.  They were his weak spot.  They were a challenge to his faith. That’s probably what Paul was refering to in our reading from II Corinthians. New Testament scholars suggest that the Apostle Paul may have suffer from some sort of debilitating eye disease.  They suggest that Paul’s “thorn in the flesh”—his weak spot—may have been blindness.  Would it surprise you to discover that even Jesus had a weak spot?  Now I’m not saying that Jesus was fallible or sinful, but rather that there was a point in his life when following his Father’s will became difficult and challenging. We read about that situation in the gospel lesson for today.  As Jesus knelt in the garden at prayer, the burden of obeying the Father’s call on his life became difficult and challenging to his faith. That’s why he looked into heaven and said, “God, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me!”  What is your weak spot?

Weak spots come in many different forms.  I don’t know what your weak spot might be.  I am certain, however, that we all have such areas in our life.  There is a place in each of our lives where faith becomes a struggle.  There comes a time in each of our lives when we are tempted to give up and give in.  Present in each of our lives is something that has the potential to of destroying our faith and trust in God.  The Psalmist had weak a weak spot.  The  Apostle Paul had a weak spot—he  called it a “messenger of Satan” sent to hinder him.   Even Jesus came to a point in his life when he wished he could do something other than obey the will of the Father.  Even Jesus faced this temptation.  Even Jesus had questions and moments of doubt.  What’s your weak spot?  At what point does you faith seem to falter?

William Sloan Coffin, former pastor of the Riverside Church in New York city once said, “In this world there are things hoped for and things stuck with.”  We understand what he means, don’t we?  We sometimes wish and pray that God will remove certain things from our lives, yet these prayers never seemed to be answered.  Our “thorns in the flesh” remain with us to plague us every day of our lives.  What are your thorns in the flesh?  What are your weak spots?

You know there are those among us in the faith who will suggest that any sort of human frailty or weakness is a sign of God’s displeasure.  Some would tell us that if we are touched by any sort of illness, sickness, pain, suffering, sorrow, or grief, that means that we are outside the will of God.  Paul faced such criticism.  Paul’s opponants said that Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was a sign that Paul was outside the will of God.  They were wrong!  Paul make it clear that its not whether or not you have a weak spot, but how you live with it.

It’s difficult to live with weak spots—Paul called them “thorns.”  Its difficutl to live with thorns because they cause us pain, real pain.  The pain may be physical.  It may be emotional or spiritual.  All we can say for certain is that we hurt, and we hurt bad.   Sometimes the pain is so bad we want to give in, give up and die.  We feel like we lost everything—friends, family, health, happiness, hope, maybe even God.  It’s terrible to live with weakness.  It’s terrible to live with pain.  But we all do, to one degree or another, don’t we?

So, what are you stuck with?  What are your weakspots?

Paul writes about his weakspots.  “Three times I prayed that it be removed!” he said.

It wasn’t!

Then he learned a great truth as he heard the voice of God.  “My grace is sufficient for you.  My power perfected in your weakness.”

Before any of that could happen, he needed to fess us.  He needed to acknowledge the weakness so he could appropriate the gift of God’s power working through him.

So I ask again:  “What is your weakspot?”

billnieporte

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