Living With Thorns (Part 2)
There is no such thing as a thorn-free life. As I pointed out yesterday, even if your life is a bed of roses now, there are thorns coming your way. And God uses those thorns just as he did in Paul’s life - to teach us humility.
But there is a second thing we can learn from Paul’s thorn. It may be obvious, but it is nonetheless true, painfully true — thorns hurt!
They fester and sting and burn. We feel their pain in our hearts, minds, and souls.
But painfully as they may be, there is an upside to our thorns - if we allow him, God can use the thorns in our lives to transform us, drawing us closer to our Lord becoming more aware of his presence and grace.
The pain from Paul’s thorn led him to cry out three times to God, pleading with the Lord to remove it. But the answer from the Lord to Paul was - “My grace is all you need. My power in you is made complete through your weakness.” (2 Cor. 12:9)
Paul responded to God’s answer by telling the Corinthian disciples that he rejoiced in his thorns, knowing that God’s power rested on him as he endured the pain.
That’s not the kind of thing I want to hear. I doubt you do, either. But I can tell you, based on personal experience, that pain has gotten my attention. Pain has given me reason to pause and reflect on my priorities in life.
Unlike Paul, I can’t think of any thorns that haven’t eventually been removed from my life. Mostly! However, I can think of several that have caused ongoing pain. And let me add that the worst kind of ongoing pain is the pain of heart and soul.
But it was because of the ongoing, persistent pain from my thorns that I couldn’t just get back to “business as usual.” And thank God because many of those thorns led me to make some changes that would have never been made if my thorn had been removed too quickly. But God loved me enough to allow the thorn and to leave it festering within me until I became a better man.
I know it’s not easy to hear, but enduring the pain of your thorn while crying out to God to help make you a better disciple of Jesus could be the best thing that ever happened to you.
Psalm 56:8 tells us God puts all our tears in a bottle. God sees and knows just how much you are suffering. Trust Him to work through your pain to make you a better person.
In Christ,
Dan
You can read about some of the thorns I’ve experienced in my life in my book “Masterpiece in the Making: Life Lessons for Spiritual Growth.”