THANKING THE THORNS

Devotional for Sunday 10/07/12

Thorns are painful when they pierce our flesh.  They can draw blood if they poke deeply enough.  Even if no blood appears, the nerves in the skin are very sensitive.  It is most frustrating if the thorns are so tiny you can't even see them to pull them out.  Even after they are removed, the wound can be in an area that is easily re-aggravated, especially if alcohol or vinegar gets into the cut. Thorns come in a variety of shapes and sizes with varying degrees of injury that can be inflicted on our skin.

A thorn can also mean something other than a sharp barb on a plant. "A thorn in the side" can be used to describe anything that annoys or causes discomfort.  It can be something we have to bear that is disconcerting.  Someone or something that causes suffering in our lives could be called a thorn in the flesh.  It could be something that we know will pass like a student that a teacher will have for one year, or it might be something where there is no end in sight like a chronic disease.  Where do they come from and how are we to respond to these types of "thorns"?

Paul spoke of a thorn in his flesh: 

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NIV

We are not told what his "thorn" was, except that he looked at it as a messenger of Satan.  God doesn't cause us pain, Satan does.  Paul's response was to ask God to remove it, and when it was not removed he boasted about his weakness to celebrate God's power.  So when we experience our own "thorns" in life, perhaps we too can see them simply as a reminder by Satan that we are weak, and that we can celebrate God's strength to carry us through it.  The next time we are haunted by a memory of something in the past, for which we have already received forgiveness, we can try to remember to thank Satan for the reminder that we are God's child, and our God is a mighty and powerful God who has already forgiven and restored us.  When we are suffering through the storms of this life, we can remember that God is our anchor who gives us internal peace in spite of what our lives/bodies are experiencing.  Thanking the thorns can give us a new perspective to look beyond our pain to the One who suffered more than any of us with a crown of thorns on the cross in our place.  He is the one who is full of grace and mercy, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

written by Jan Andersen