This passage refers to the famous “thorn” God permitted Satan to give the apostle Paul during his life and ministry.  Surely God left out what the “thorn” was, or we probably would’ve made a denomination out of it.  So the thorn can be seen as relative, that God permitted something in Paul’s life, that he prayed numerous times for God to get rid of but didn’t…

What has God has left you to struggle with, that you continuously pray for?  And has it effected how you see the Lord?  In other words, have you cursed what God is using to humble you?  The “thorn” He uses, for us not to be overly impressed with ourselves, and forget how desperate we need to cling to Jesus…

Perspective becomes monumental when we walk with Jesus, because to allow something that makes us weak or need help to overcome, seems harsh.  Especially if we have plead for God to remove it, with our perspective being that we would be better servants if He fixed it!  But with God’s ways and thoughts not being ours, we need more humility to trust God when things don’t make sense to us…(Isaiah 55:8)

A big deterrent to intimacy with God and people, is to think wrongly about their motives.  God especially, because He is the definition of good! (Mark 10:18)  So if we declare God to be wrong or unjust, in what He has used to humble us, we no longer relate to Him as good, and lose our trust.  Doubting the character of God, will doubt the ways of God until we no longer follow Him…

Like the apostle Paul, we must have a proper perspective of what God has allowed to humble us to need Him. As opposed to seeing what He has allowed as unjust and not right.  Paul eventually accepted the “thorn” in his flesh as something he needed, so he wouldn’t be so prideful from all the revelation God gave him.  How do you see your “thorn”, and are you cursing it? Or do you see His grace sufficient enough with it? (2 Corinthians 12:7-9)

In His Love, Ld