May the Lord give us to be more and more confident in Himself in these days. “When I am weak, then am I strong” is a lesson Paul had to learn by a very humiliating process. [And so shall we], if we speak of our testimony upon the earth. It will soon be evident [that testimony] is nothing but weakness, and, like the seed lost upon the wayside, that testimony will likewise end to our shame.
But if the living God has, by us, a testimony to His own glory upon the earth, then the sense of weakness will only bring us more directly into the place of His power. An apostle with a thorn in the flesh learned the sufficiency of the grace of Christ. A little remnant is reunited and gathered, having nothing wherein it can glory in the flesh, but it is thus that it is ready to remain faithful to the name of Jesus, when that which seemed to be something before men has failed.
J. N. Darby (Miscellaneous Writings, Vol. 4)