Did you ever have one of those nagging, ongoing situations that seemed like it might never end? I mean one of those things that you worked and worked to remedy but just couldn’t find your way to a solution. Yeah, ……me too! I’ll bet if we ask around we’ll find that it’s fairly universal.
As people, we all handle those situations in different ways. We can complain and whine about our situation. Done that! We can worry ourselves sick and lose sleep over it. Done that one, too! We can agonize over it and let the weight of it control our lives if we’re not careful. Yep, you guessed it, done that one, too! So far, those methods haven’t done me much good!
But I think there’s an extremely valuable lesson found in the Bible (Imagine that!), if we’re willing to consider it. In one of Paul’s letters he eluded to, what he called, a ‘thorn in the flesh’; You should read the story. No one really knows what that thorn in the flesh was, although there’s plenty of speculation. Some think it was his failing eyesight, others think it might have been a difficult person he was having to deal with. And one of my friends suggested that it was Paul’s wife! (There’s no record of Paul having a wife; so, I can only surmise that my friend was thinking about his own situation! lol)
Paul was a pretty spiritual guy by my standards. Here’s what he did. He prayed. (now there’s a novel idea!) Not once, not twice…..but three times. But nothing happened! You ever experience that??! Yep, I’ve done that, too! But in the middle of his dilemma he came to a brilliant, and profound, conclusion. He said, “I have found that in my weakness, the power of God is made manifest. And, when I’m weak, then I’m strong”. Even though he didn’t get his prayers answered, he came out of it better off than he was, going in! How can that be possible!?
Here’s my conclusion; From what I see Biblically and from what I’ve experienced personally, it appears that there’s just some things that the Father doesn’t make us strong in. For His own reasons, He seems to be OK with allowing us to remain weak in some areas. We have to consider that the Lord might want us to realize what Paul realized. We will find out, like he did, that His strength is made perfect in our weakness! So, there may always be an area or two in our lives where we ‘know’ that we have to be totally trusting in Him! I think He likes that!
He spoke to Paul, right in the middle of his trial, “My grace is sufficient.”! Whatever it is that you’re going through…..you can be 100% guaranteed that there’ll be grace enough for you.
So, when you’re facing some of those trying circumstances, by all means pray! But, don’t throw in the towel if He doesn’t remove your ‘thorn in the flesh’. He might just have something greater for you!
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