2 Corinthians 12: 7 – 9
“Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
Speaking from my experience, and I am sure some can relate, when we experience something painful or (as far as we can see) hindering, we question how God is going to be glorified. We may even grow angry, bitter, or resentful towards God. “Why am I struggling with this?” “Why did you allow this to happen?” “Why, why, why, why?” That is our natural reaction to trials and struggles – our thorns. Sometimes we forget that in the Bible, we are PROMISED struggles. We tend to think that since we follow God,, we should receive blessings and whatever we want. However, if we look at the passage above, we see Paul going against human nature of despising our thorn, and instead, he embraced it fully. Does that mean that Paul didn’t suffer? Surely not! He pleaded with God and begged for it to be removed, yet the answer was no. Instead of pouting and getting annoyed with God, like I have in the past, Paul understood the purpose behind this thorn and embraced it. His whole purpose in life is to glorify our king, and he used one of the most painful and burdensome struggle in his life (whether internal or physical, we don’t know completely) and turned it flip side to fulfill his purpose and learn a lesson.
(So I decided to dig deep and apply and I encourage you to do the same):
What was his lesson? He learned that he was tempted to glorify himself and exalt his own name, so this thorn literally INHIBITED him from self-glorifying tendencies. Paul realized that pridefulness and then saw the purpose in the thorn in shifting glory back to God. I think we all can learn a lesson from our thorn, maybe the same maybe different.
What lesson am I learning?
That I am so exponentially dependent on God for every little thing. To press into that dependency to create intimacy. That is really humbling if you think about it! I am not a good person on my own. I have nothing figured out on my own. I am nothing on my own. And when I forget that and let myself think highly of who I am and act as if I don’t need God, he is quick to humble me and remind me of the reality – I am in desperate need of him every second of every day.
Take time to think about what thorns you may have either physically or interpersonally.
Paul used his thorns in his life to glorify God. Why can’t I? Why can’t you? Whatever that may be.
It got me thinking about how I have viewed my thorn as something wrong with me, as something flawed. I saw it as something I should be ashamed of and hide away from people. But after reading this devotional and sitting in it, I realized that it can become a way for me to lower myself and exalt God! I realized that maybe this isn’t something God is going to remove permantely right in this moment, maybe never, but the more I lean in to him, the more I find comfort. The more I exalt him, the less I feel consumed. The more I love others, the less unloved I feel.
So I am learning the same lesson Paul learned through his thorn(s): My afflicted life is a vehicle for God to exalt himself. And, my affliction is training me to choose the humble, self-sacrificial, and genuine love like that of Christ over my flesh and selfish ambitions. And I am here to challenge you to do the same.
His power is made perfect in your weakness! We got it all backwards thinking that we should hide our flaws and issues, instead we should BOAST in them because it humbles us and exalts him! (P.S.- that is our whole purpose in life)…. Lots of love, Lillian.
