2 Corinthians 12:9-10 — And he said unto me, 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. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Myra and I have had a pretty strange Fourth of July. We haven’t been at a cookout, we haven’t been watching fireworks, we haven’t been at a parade … We’ve been working on a project in our house.
We battled through. The instructions for the bookcase were up to the usual standard. The relocated modem and router just wouldn’t connect. (Translation, for the less technically savvy … “The boxes and bits of string wouldn’t cooperate!”) And then we prayed, and called Comcast and had the modem reset, and everything worked.
Did you spot the (not-deliberate) mistake? We’re really trying to pray before we start a project. We want God’s blessing on our plans and help as we progress. This time we messed up. Now am I really saying that God stops things from working in a fit of pique? Of course not. But I do think He sometimes makes things run a little bit more smoothly if He’s in at the start of the project … but there’s something much more important.
When we go to God and ask for help, it’s an act of worship … more, and I hope I can do this idea justice, we are conforming ourselves in His image.
The worship part is plain, I think. We come to God and say “Father, this job is too big for me … But You Lord, nothing is too big for You! I am weak, but you are strong.”
The “conforming” part is a bit deeper in the text, but see what God said to Paul: “my strength is made perfect in weakness.” I have seen two interpretations of this clause, and I have one more that I dare offer.
The first, most obvious, and most commonly advanced is “I will give you more of my strength, the more you need and ask for”. Indeed, Paul was strengthened by being made aware that he already had all the resources he needed.
The second interpretation is that God gains glory when He comes to our aid when we confess our weakness. I don’t think much of the idea. I’m not convinced by the notion that God puts us through hoops so that He can polish up His image.
The idea that has occurred to me is this. God’s strength was made most perfect in the ultimate weakness of the cross. We conform to His image by taking up our cross, and confessing our weakness, our inability to cope unless we are hidden in Him.
The worshipful life, the conforming life, is the daily life. Discipleship is not some grand heroic activity. It is the moment-by-moment practicing of the presence of God. Listening, sharing, asking, obeying, loving. In weakness.