We own property at Honey Lake that runs some three and a half miles alongside the Little Aucilla River. I happened to notice a pile of wood ducks coming into a pothole located along this river that was full of one of their favorite foods, duck weed. So I invited my son and a friend to go in there with me to hunt them and sure enough at daylight wave after wave of woodies began screaming in through the trees.
We got there long before daylight and I dropped my companions off first, and then paddled my boat upstream, pulled it up on the bank, and hid it in the weeds. I stood in the water in my rubber boots in total darkness, hoping that no gators were swimming towards me. At daylight the ducks started dive bombing in, but I noticed that they were actually landing above me about 100 yards upstream and I wanted to reposition in order to obtain the best possible advantage.
The problem was that the woods alongside the river in this area were thicker than four hundred hells with brush, and I had a heck of a time fighting my way through them to get to the “honey hole”. I nearly had my clothes torn off going through a briar patch, but I was finally successful and after I got there I hammered several ducks and limited out before they quit flying for the morning and the hunt was over. Unfortunately then I had to fight my way back through the same brambles (that were the size and sharpness of fish hooks) to get back to the boat.
During my little foray I got a briar in one of my hands and it has been bothering me ever since. It turned red and became sore and is a constant aggravation. I unsuccessfully tried to cut it out with my pocket knife, but with my worn out eyes couldn’t see well enough to do anything but gouge a large cut in my hand that now hurts too. I’m reminded of it every time I reach for my keys in my pocket, or bump it somehow, which seems to occur every five minutes or so.
This thorn in my flesh reminds me of a couple of readers of Words for the Day who seem to find their delight in writing me nasty letters daily. They are a constant thorn in my flesh. Why they bother is beyond me, perhaps they feel designated by satan to annoy me daily in hopes of discouraging me, or maybe it’s something else.
Maybe God wants them to annoy me???
Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:7: “…even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.”
Paul was no doubt referring to spiritual pride and if the Apostle Paul was in danger of spiritual pride, who is not? There is ample reason to believe that Paul was naturally a proud man. He was by nature self-confident; trusting in his own talents and achievements, and eminently ambitious prior to his conversion, and it seems logical that all of that didn’t go away after he became a believer and especially after being favored in his call to the apostleship where he experienced tremendous success as a preacher.
So it seems reasonable to believe that he faced a special danger that he would become too self-confident and proud of his achievements, and instead of rightly giving the Lord the credit and glory for them, he might “scarf up” on them for himself. So just to keep him humble maybe God allowed satan to send him a little wakeup call to remind him that it is He, and not Paul, that is the source of all of his successes in life and that he must rely on God for continued success.
Paul seemed thankful for the thorn in his flesh and I feel sure he didn’t want to be filled with pride and since he was a Bible scholar like none other was no doubt intimately familiar with its destructive properties. God often brings good out of evil and it makes sense that if God loves us, he will keep us from becoming too enamored with ourselves.
It is interesting that Paul prayed about his affliction. Troubles are sent in part to teach us to pray; and I believe troubles are allowed to linger in order to teach us to continue praying – always. Prayer is a salve for every sore, a remedy for every malaise; and when we’re plagued with thorns in the flesh, we should give ourselves to prayer. If we don’t get an answer on the first try, or the second, or the third, the Bible states that we are to continue praying. (Remember the analogy of the woman banging on the guy’s door until he finally got up out of bed to give her some bread just to shut her up already)
Though God accepts all prayers of faith, He does not always permit what is asked of Him and just as he sometimes grants in wrath, so he sometimes denies in love. Paul understood that his answer was “no”, and that God was not going to take away the thorn in his flesh, but instead it would remain as a constant reminder in order that he would stay humble. To his credit Paul did not get angry, nor did he pout, or get all grumped up about it, instead he quoted God’s promise and accepted it, (2 Cor. 12:9 “‘My grace is sufficient for you. My power works best in weakness.’ – So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me”).
Okay time to wrap this up, I’m repeating myself and actually boring myself and can only imagine the same is happening to you. Besides it will soon be daylight and this morning I’m chasing whitetail bucks, (big ones).
So I conclude with this: All you nasty hate monger thorns and pains in my butt that like to write your filthy epithets to Words for the Day to advocate your desire for gun control, abortion, homosexuality, removing God from all walks of life, electing evil leaders in our country, atheism, or whatever, keep it coming. I revel in it.
1 Cor. 2:5
I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.