A Thorn In My Flesh

A Thorn In My Flesh
Have you ever had a thorn stuck in you?  I recently had one and I didn’t even know it for a while.  To this day, I have no idea what I did to get the thorn inside my flesh.  I ignored it for a while, but within a few days, that thorn made sure I knew it was inside my skin and that it had to be dealt with.  

The thorn was inside my left thumb.  It turned red, got puffy and if anything touched that thumb, you can be sure I had a grimace on my face.   So, I finally made time and grabbed a needle and started digging deep.  It took some time, but I finally found the culprit and was able to pull out the thorn.  When I looked at it afterward, I couldn’t believe it.  That thorn was so incredibly tiny, yet it had caused me a lot of pain and affected a lot of things that I did for a couple days until I finally took the time to get it out. 

When you think about it, there is much we can learn about ourselves when we look at these little thorns.  Many people have “thorns” in their lives that they ignore as long as they can until the pain becomes unbearable.   Deceit, envy, hate, broken friendships, estranged family members and definitely cancer are all types of thorns that can burrow deep within us -sometimes without us even knowing until we can hide them no longer .  These thorns can cause us great pain and we long for them to be removed so the pain will be gone.  Sometimes if we look deep within ourselves and are honest with ourselves, we can take actions to rid ourselves of the thorn.  But, there are times when those thorns are so deep, we can’t get them out and we have to do our best to live with it knowing God is there to give us strength and peace. 

The apostle Paul addressed these thorns that you can’t get out in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10:  “So, to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, “ I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I hope you get rid of the thorns that YOU can and for the ones you can’t, I pray you will seek God’s strength and contentment that is always available to us through prayer and dependence on Him.    
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