Grace and Thorns

“There was given to me a thorn in the flesh…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."

God gave Paul a gift; it was a thorn in the flesh. Its purpose was to deflate his ego during those times he was tempted to become over-inflated. During a period of fourteen years he had prayed on three specific occasions that God would remove it. To which the Lord answered, in essence, that if He took away the thorn there would no longer be a need for his daily Grace in his life and ministry.

I’m afraid many of us, if the truth were known, would sacrifice God’s moment by moment sustaining grace for the eliminating of any and all means used by Deity to keep us humble and useable. We need to take warning from King Uzziah in the Old Testament. We’re told, “He was marvellously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to [his] destruction.” Or as Paul so aptly puts it, “being lifted up with pride he [fell] into the condemnation of the devil.

We say to our children, “Remember your place.” Those of us used of God need to also constantly remind ourselves of ours. We should follow King David’s example. When entering his house, he sat before the Lord and said, “Who [am] I, O Lord GOD? and what [is] my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? Don’t you think David would have liked the little wall plaque which reads, “Lest I forget”?