More on what God taught me in answering my prayers with wisdom

Second, the Lord combined this frustration with 2 Corinthians 12:9, “… he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” With this, the lights came on. If I am content with my own efforts, growth and accomplishments, I will rely on myself.

However, when God lets His children see more clearly the weakness, failure and sin of our natural side, then we can turn away from ourselves to Him and know Him better. We can embrace this truth of our inadequacy in ourselves, confess our self-reliance, receive forgiveness and revel in His love, saying with Paul, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Cor. 12:9b).

God has wanted to use the happenings of 9/11 in this way, I believe, for all of America: suddenly our weakness, our vulnerability was revealed and with that, how much we senselessly have depended on our own strength, cleverness and goodness to protect us from evil. May we turn to God in a new way, realizing our need for Him, and find new strength, new insight, new freedom to serve Him.

Prayer: “We pray, God, that you will give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that we might know you better, not for our own comfort and advantage, but that you might further transform us so we can be more useful for you in what you plan to do in and through our lives. Amen.”