Psalm 34:1-22
Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he left.
1 I will extol the Lord at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
2 I will glory in the Lord;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Glorify the Lord with me;
let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
9 Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
10 The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
11 Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
13 keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from telling lies.
14 Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are attentive to their cry;
16 but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to blot out their name from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
19 The righteous person may have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all;
20 he protects all his bones,
not one of them will be broken.
21 Evil will slay the wicked;
the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
22 The Lord will rescue his servants;
no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
When I Am Weak Then I Am Strong
9 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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
The Psalmist writes that this poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles...The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit...God is close to those who have a broken heart...He is close to those who are troubled...Many broken of heart, in trouble, and suffering turn to God...They depend on Him for their personal strength...
St. Paul teaches us that God can find strength in our weaknesses...As St. Paul suffered with his ailment, he prayed for God's help...When we are suffering, we often look to God...We seek God then...Maybe God used Paul more, when Paul searched for Him in his personal struggles...As others watched Paul and his struggles with his own personal thorn, maybe others become stronger followers of Jesus...God is not looking for us to be perfect...If He were, He would have made Paul perfect...After all, Paul was constantly spreading the good news about Jesus...Paul needed his energy and strength to get the good news out to others...
God loves to show Himself in weakness...He loves to show Himself in those hurting, the outcast, those suffering...As we read about Jesus, God seems to reveal Himself more in the mourning and weak than those who are famous or strong or royal...
Think of all the trips, and travels that St. Paul did in the Book of Acts, and in this thirteen different epistles to other people...St. Paul was maybe God's greatest missionary worker...St. Paul did so much in spreading the gospel...If chapter twelve was left out of St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians, would you have even known that Paul even suffered at all, and was weak?...