Romans 5:3-6
We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
2 Corinthians 12:10
For Christ's sake, I delight (am content, rejoice, take pleasure) in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
F.B. Meyer, Our Daily Walk on 2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
(Most) to whom we minister do not live on the mountain heights, but in the valleys, where demons possess and worry the afflicted. Be willing that your visions of Paradise should be transient (2 Corinthians 12:4), and turn your back on the mountain summit, where the glory shines, as our Lord did, in order to minister to souls in anguish.
John Flavel “Divine Conduct” (or, “The Mystery of Providence”)
Providence so orders the case that faith and prayer need to be exercised to close the gap between our needs and supply. Thus, the goodness of God is more magnified in supplying the provisions we need.
C.H. Spurgeon
If, bowing your head before the Lord, you wait his sovereign will, and say, "Lord help me. If thy left hand shall smite me, let thy right hand sustain me. I am willing to drink this bitter cup, saying, `Not as I will, but as thou wilt.' Lord, help me!"--you shall bear up triumphantly, and come out of the furnace refined, to the praise and the glory of your God. When you fancy that you are strong to suffer, you will fail; but in conscious weakness you will be enabled to play the man.
Charles Hodge
When we are really weak in ourselves and are conscious of that weakness, we are in the state suited to the manifestation of God’s power. When we are emptied of ourselves, we are filled with God. Those who think they can change their own hearts, atone for their own sins, subdue the power of evil in their own souls or in the souls of others, who feel able to sustain themselves under affliction, God leaves to their own resources. But when they feel and acknowledge their weakness, He imparts divine strength to them.
A.B. Simpson on Isaiah 41:10 "I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee."
God has three ways of helping us.
First, He says, I will strengthen thee. In other words, He is saying, "I will make you a little stronger yourself."
Second, He adds, I will help thee. By that we understand Him to say, "I will add my strength to your strength, but you shall lead and I will help you."
Third, He says, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness, or "I will lift you up and carry you altogether. It will be neither your strength nor My help, but My complete upholding."
When we come to the end of our strength, we come to the beginning of His. In Him the weakest are the strongest, and the most helpless the most helped. He giveth power to the faint, but to them that have no might at all He increaseth strength. His word forever is, My grace is sufficient for thee.
J.I. Packer God's Plans For You
The Lord first of all makes us conscious of our weakness so that in the face of some particular burden our heart cries out, “I can’t cope with this.” We go to the Lord, telling him, “I can’t handle this. Please take it away!” And the Lord replies, “In my strength you can handle this, and in answer to your prayer, I will strengthen you to handle it.” Thus in the end your testimony, like Paul’s, will be, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13) That, I believe, is the fullest expression for any of us of the empowered Christian life.