water and they found Him the sup plier of water out of a solid rock— the living Water. Our blessed Lord wants us to know Him. “Let him that glorieth, glory in this that he under- standeth and knoweth me” (Jeremiah 9:24). The Lord doesn’t need natural ability. He wants us and wants us to know Him. It was when Saul hid him self among the stuff and realized his weakness that God selected him to be king. While David was a shepherd boy, untrained and untaught, God anointed him king of Israel. When we depend upon our strength and rely on our own wits, we fail. The work of God is successfully accomplished only by the power of God. It is not assets that we need, but more of the power of God. I once visited a dear little girl who had to be strapped down to four boards in bed so she wouldn’t wind up in a twisted position like a pretzel. But she was radiant and sweet, happy and lovely. She never complained. She was rejoicing that she didn’t have to wash dishes or feed the chickens or do any washing. She could just lie there helpless, enjoying the presence of her Lord. Beloved, let me ask you: Do you take pleasure in infirmities? Are you glad to find out things in life that aren’t what they should be so you can go to the Lord with them? The work of God is successfully ac complished by those who want just the will of God without any other thing added to it. There is a multitude of things that come up to take us away from God. Don’t let that happen, be loved. Let the Lord have your heart and your life, and thank Him for everything He gives you, everything He does for you and to you and through you, and you’ll be surprised at the joy and peace that will fill your heart when you quit fighting against God. 15
M ost of us are glad to be well. We’re glad we have no pains, that we don’t have a cancer or tuber culosis or any of these ravaging diffi cult diseases, however , Paul said something quite different from that. In II Corinthians 12:10 we read, “I take pleasure in infirmities.” It’s in the plural. He didn’t tell us what they were. We think that one of his in firmities was eye trouble, because he seemed to speak of that in several places, but whatever it was, it was in the plural — infirmities. Paul’s great desire was to know God and God’s dealings with him in infirmities. How many of us have ever been glad to get in the place where nobody could help us out but God in divine inter vention? I take pleasure in being hin dered, being sick, being incapacitated or being blind. That’s what Paul said and the Lord gave him weakness. His eyesight was poor and he was a little man. His infirmities gave him the privilege of experiencing the power of God in his ministry. He knew there wasn’t anything about himself that would be helpful and profitable, so he had to lean on the Lord to make his life what it should be. He felt his weakness, but he wanted the power of Christ to rest upon him so miracles could be performed t h r o u g h hi s preaching. Paul took pleasure in infirmities, in things that were hindering and things that were wrong. It may be that some of you have not been able to overcome the things in your life that hinder you from being the kind of Christian you want to be. Maybe you have a bad temper and things come to try you. That isn’t a bad idea. It shows how you need to depend on your Lord to control it. I take pleasure in infirmi ties so I can see what God can do. Israel ran out of bread and they found out that God is the source of bread— the bread of Life. They ran out of
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