Praise Him for the roses. Thank Him for the thorns.

“And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake:for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

2 Corinthians 12: 7-10

                  Until recently I was guilty of skimming through these verses. I focused more on what Paul’s mysterious thorn in the flesh might be than the lessons to be learned from it. Once they were pointed out to me, this became one of my favorite passages.

                  We often question why we suffer. We don’t understand. Paul admitted several things about his “thorn in the flesh.” He admitted that it kept him humble. He acknowledged that Satan often used it against him. He admitted that he had asked God multiple times to take it away, but he accepted that God was using it to help him. He awed in God’s ability to something good come from a flawed man.

                  There is an old saying, “That which does not kill you makes you stronger.” God is often using our fleshly thorns to make us stronger.

Praise Him for the roses. Thank Him for the thorns.

- adapted from Under the Juniper Tree podcast

available via The Light Network