Proclamation:
“Therefore,
in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a
messenger from 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.’” 2 Corinthians 12:7-9
While
defending himself to the false teachers, false prophets, and false apostles,
the Apostle Paul said that he could boast about a number of things but refused
to do so. Under the influence of The
Holy Spirit of God, he chose to boast about The Lord. In order to keep him humble, Paul said that
he was given “a thorn” in his flesh. The
exact nature of the thorn was not identified.
Whether it was a physical ailment, a great trouble or temptation, the
devil meant it to take Paul down but God used it to keep him grounded and from
thinking to highly of himself. Paul
asked The Lord three times to remove it but He said that His grace would help
Paul to deal with it.
Application:
Sometimes life throws us a curve. When times are tough and things go wrong, we
should not give up or get mad. We should
remember that The Lord said, "My grace is sufficient ..." (2
Corinthians 12:9) If He brought us to
it, He can bring us through it. The Lord
God’s
power is demonstrated during our weakness.
All things happen for a reason and even “bad things” can be used for our
benefit. (Romans 8:28) Some things are
just tests which can strengthen us. (James 1:3-4) So, even when life bring us trials and
tribulations we should be joyful and count them as a good thing which is
preparing us for something better. (James 1:2)
Each of us is still a work in progress.
As with the thorn in Paul's flesh and the trials of James, God
is working on us and He is not through with us yet. So count it all as joy and know that God is always
with us. (Deuteronomy 31:6)
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