What is meant by "sufficient grace"?

There was another thing that was humbling to Paul; he puts himself boldly forward, and says, "Take away this thorn, take away this thorn, take away this thorn; I know thou art the giver; I know thou hast an ear, and a heart to care; take away this thorn." There was no answer save, "No; my grace is sufficient for thee." Who sent the thorn? The Lord Himself. Who limited too what Satan was to do with the thorn? The Lord Himself. Who wants to direct the Lord, to show God what He is to do? Paul. I can't hear thee; my grace is sufficient for thee. I can't take away something of yours, but I will give thee something of mine. I am never tired of caring for you, of giving out from myself all you need. I am always ready to give. I'll give, give, as much as you need; grace filling all your circumstances, whatever they are. I am left to you; I am sufficient for you; my strength shall be made perfect in weakness. Paul is not allowed his own way, walls are built up across his road. When Paul finds he cannot do as he will, when he becomes a prisoner, and is led whither he would not, before kings, and the treat Emperor of the whole earth, we see the testimony he is permitted to bear for his Lord; he went in as bound, but proved what strength made perfect in weakness is.

There was another thing that was humbling to Paul; he puts himself boldly forward, and says, "Take away this thorn, take away this thorn, take away this thorn; I know thou art the giver; I know thou hast an ear, and a heart to care; take away this thorn." There was no answer save, "No; my grace is sufficient for thee." Who sent the thorn? The Lord Himself. Who limited too what Satan was to do with the thorn? The Lord Himself. Who wants to direct the Lord, to show God what He is to do? Paul. I can't hear thee; my grace is sufficient for thee. I can't take away something of yours, but I will give thee something of mine. I am never tired of caring for you, of giving out from myself all you need. I am always ready to give. I'll give, give, as much as you need; grace filling all your circumstances, whatever they are. I am left to you; I am sufficient for you; my strength shall be made perfect in weakness. Paul is not allowed his own way, walls are built up across his road. When Paul finds he cannot do as he will, when he becomes a prisoner, and is led whither he would not, before kings, and the treat Emperor of the whole earth, we see the testimony he is permitted to bear for his Lord; he went in as bound, but proved what strength made perfect in weakness is.

Very naturally Paul betook himself to prayer. It was intense prayer: he not only requested but besought. It was repeated, for he besought the Lord thrice. Yet for all that his desire was not granted. Instead of having the thorn removed he received the assurance of abundant grace; such grace that the thorn would become an asset rather than a liability, a means of blessing rather than a hindrance. The Lord answered his prayer, but not according to his thought. He gave him rather that which was better. The grace bestowed more than counterbalanced the thorn.

We must lay great stress in our minds upon the little word, "MY." The thorn was a messenger of Satan, but the grace was Christ's. The Lord's reply to Paul was, "My grace is sufficient for thee." The Lord and His grace are infinite, sufficient for ten thousand times ten thousand of His saints — surely then sufficient for Paul, or for any one of us, no matter what we may have to face. But He added, "My strength is made perfect in weakness." If the thorn served to augment and emphasize Paul's weakness it thereby opened the way for a fuller and more perfect display of the grace of the Lord.

The grace that is in our Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient for every need. There is no circumstance in which any of us can be found, allowed by the will of the Lord, but the grace of the Lord is sufficient. There is no circumstance into which any Christian can be led by his own folly, out of which the grace of God cannot bring blessing to him. There is grace to restore us when we fall, there is grace to keep us from falling.

But that is not all! The man of God said to the widow, "Pay thy debt, and LIVE THOU AND THY CHILDREN ON THE REST" There was a wonderful balance. There was a superabundance enough to keep this woman and her children until the end of the story. So you will find it with the grace of God. The grace of God is not exhausted when it pardons our sins — nor when it justifies us. Oh no! there is the rest of the grace and it is at our disposal until the end. We need the grace of God, and shall need it until our feet stand in heavenly glory — until we pass from this world of difficulties into our eternal home. The grace that is in our Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient for every need. There is no circumstance in which any Christian can be found, allowed by the Will of the Lord, but the grace of the Lord is sufficient for him. There is no circumstance into which any Christian can be led by his own folly, out of which the grace of God cannot bring blessing to him — there is grace to restore us when we fall — there is grace to keep us from falling.

But having revealed His grace to us at such a cost to Himself, He has not retired into His former glory and left us to manage our own affairs, and fight life's battles as best we may. No, His interest in us abides, and He assures us that as He began with us so will He continue, that His resources are enough to meet every demand that can be made upon us, He is behind the scenes to support us in our need and make our weakness the occasion for the display of His power. His words to Paul were, "My grace is sufficient for thee" (chap. 12). They are wonderful words, none that ever came from His mouth have yielded greater comfort to His tried and suffering saints. I quote from a letter recently received from one of these. "My fear and anxiety fled in the face of those underlined words, 'MY grace … for THEE,' and He, through you, gave me a glad day." That is it. There is the ocean of grace at one end of the sentence, and the thimble of our need at the other, and the ocean is enough for the thimble; and that not for special days of stress only, but always and for all. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all."

All the glory he was in belonged to another and not to himself at all; but the I of Paul's old nature could turn even that into corruption. Paul prays three times, and gets no answer till the third time, and then it is a point-blank refusal. Have you ever considered what this must have been to Paul? Like a child lifting up the foot to step a little higher, saying, "Now I know I shall get it." So he did, but what was it? "My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Christ not speaking of Paul's ability to meet the trial, but of His own heart with him in it, to brighten everything, saying, "You want the removal of the thorn, but I shall leave it, because it will be something to make you lean on my arm. Do not you know that I went to the cross and went into the glory, for you? and I am coming again to take you there; but whilst you are down in the wilderness, I must be continually giving you something to guide and help you; my grace, my strength, are for you. I want you to see what a living grace mine is which you have to rest your heart upon. I shall leave the thorn just to make you feel what you have got in. me, you will learn it as did poor Jacob every time the shrunken sinew told him that he was lame."

Though thrice he prayed for its removal it still remained, but it became the occasion for a fresh assurance of an abundant supply of inward grace in those immortal words, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness." It is not only grace, but MY grace, not only strength, but MY strength. The immensity of the grace and. the strength can only be measured by the divine and eternal fulness of the One whose grace and strength it is. In the presence of this greatness how small was Paul, who was indicated by the "thee," — and we are even smaller than Paul. There is an infinitude of grace and strength with our Lord. It carried Paul to the finish, and enabled him to triumph with martyrdom just before him, as we see in 1 Timothy 4:6-8.

What better asset to an active servant of the Lord than a strong, healthy body! Paul though that without such a body he must be positively hindered and restricted in the service of the Lord. He thought physical efficiency was essential. But he bowed under the humbling hand of the Lord, "I will not glory, but in mine infirmities." As glorying in "a man in Christ," he gloried in that which made everything of Christ. Glorying in his infirmities he gloried in that which made nothing of himself. But, blessing of blessings, along with that which emphasized his nothingness and demonstrated his utter weakness, he heard that same voice which had spoken blessing to him on the Damascus road, now saying, "My grace is sufficient for thee." "My … thee," and in between (not to separate but to sustain), "My grace."

The first great necessity in a day of weakness and ruin is to be "strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (verse 1). Does this not imply that though, like Timothy, we may be naturally timid, yet there is grace in Christ to enable us to stand against the rising tide of evil, and to take the path the Lord has marked out in the midst of the corruptions of Christendom, and to continue in that path in spite of failure, opposition, desertion and reproach. However great and many the difficulties we may have to face there is grace in Christ Jesus, and however weak in ourselves we can draw upon that grace. Paul, himself, was a striking example of what he presses upon believers. He was faced with infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake; but the Lord said to him, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Immediately he speaks of this grace as "the power of Christ," for he adds, "most gladly there-fore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Cor. 12:9-10). The grace of Christ is then all the power of Christ available for a weak and needy saint. If the grace of Christ was sufficient for the Apostle in all his persecutions and trials, it is surely sufficient for us in our little measure of trial.