I’ve read the Spartan’s of old, after conquering cities around them, would leave one close by. The purpose was, said they, was to keep them always alert and vigilant. In the book of Judges we find God left certain nations to prove His people. David seems to be calling attention to this in Psalm 59:11, where he asks the Lord, referring to his enemies, “Slay them not, lest my people forget.”
We can apply this, I believe, to a Christian’s individual life. The scriptures seem to bear out the fact this is also true of us. After one’s conversion, God leaves something of our old life that stays with us throughout our pilgrimage here on earth. Rather than being a hindrance, as most of us believe, actually, it’s a great help. It is the thing that keeps us humble and dependent upon Him; a constant reminder of the weakness of our flesh. Pray and plead all you want for its removal, but like Paul, who prayed fourteen years for God to take away his thorn; you will also get an emphatic “No.”
The very thing we have been praying against is the thing that has made us (if we are of any use at all) what we are today. The old Puritan had it right we he said, “Paul’s thorn was the tack that held back the veil, so he could see the face of Jesus more clearly.”
“Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities…for when I am weak, then am I strong.”
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