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- Apr 25, 2006
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Thorny issues
'when I am weak, then I am strong.' 2 CORINTHIANS 12:10
Most of what Paul writes in the New Testament is really plain, clear and simple but there's a really weird line in his letter to the church in the city of Corinth. He says that God gave him a '...thorn in the flesh...' (2 Corinthians 12:7).
Nobody really knows what he was referring to; some people even think it was his wife! But the point isn't what it was but what it was for and that's something Paul does tell us: 'to keep me from becoming proud'. Success can be intoxicating (ie you get drunk on it), and intoxicated people aren't known for making good decisions!
What happens when you get a splinter in your finger? It hurts, and you forget everything else while you focus on getting it out. Three times Paul prayed for God to remove the thorn, but God wouldn't. Why? Because God is at His strongest in us when we are at our weakest. Paul learned that God's power in his life was strangely tied to the painful thorn so he could say, 'I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.
For when I am weak, then I am strong' (2 Corinthians 12:10 NIV). Maybe you've been praying that God will remove a thorn in your life; whatever or whoever that may be. Well maybe God wants you to experience His grace and power today by learning how to turn your pain into praise?
written by Bob Gass
'when I am weak, then I am strong.' 2 CORINTHIANS 12:10
Most of what Paul writes in the New Testament is really plain, clear and simple but there's a really weird line in his letter to the church in the city of Corinth. He says that God gave him a '...thorn in the flesh...' (2 Corinthians 12:7).
Nobody really knows what he was referring to; some people even think it was his wife! But the point isn't what it was but what it was for and that's something Paul does tell us: 'to keep me from becoming proud'. Success can be intoxicating (ie you get drunk on it), and intoxicated people aren't known for making good decisions!
What happens when you get a splinter in your finger? It hurts, and you forget everything else while you focus on getting it out. Three times Paul prayed for God to remove the thorn, but God wouldn't. Why? Because God is at His strongest in us when we are at our weakest. Paul learned that God's power in his life was strangely tied to the painful thorn so he could say, 'I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.
For when I am weak, then I am strong' (2 Corinthians 12:10 NIV). Maybe you've been praying that God will remove a thorn in your life; whatever or whoever that may be. Well maybe God wants you to experience His grace and power today by learning how to turn your pain into praise?
written by Bob Gass
