Grace meets real weakness

We tend to hear this verse as a promise that God will make us strong in the end. Heiser reads the sentence more carefully than that, and it is sharper.
"It is not made perfect in trampling out the powers underfoot. That's not how it's done." The power Paul is given is not power to crush his opposition. It is, in Heiser's words, "the power that's granted to unending fidelity" - the strength to keep being faithful while the thorn stays. He points to Gethsemane as the pattern. Jesus did not want the suffering and did not get it removed. He stayed faithful through it.
Scripture links:
- 2 Corinthians 12:9 - "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
- 2 Corinthians 12:8 - Paul asked three times for it to leave. It did not leave.
The grace is not promised instead of the weakness. It is promised inside it.