The apostle Paul had a thorn--a circumstance that hindered his life in some way. His thorn may have been a physical ailment. Perhaps it was a personal sorrow, a regret, or a loss. Whatever it was, it caused him to plead with the Lord for relief.

At one point or another, most of us get stabbed by thorns also. For some it's a bad memory that creeps up in the midst of a happy day and steals joy. For others it's a physical limitation that prohibits a productive life. Perhaps it’s the grief of watching one's wayward child hurling toward destruction through repetitive bad choices. For still others it's the pain of a long-held but unmet desire. Our thorns come in all shapes and sizes—emotional, physical, material—and they can steal our peace if we don't handle them as Paul handled his thorn.

The first thing Paul did when overwhelmed by his thorn was to pray for relief. Even though he persisted in prayer, Paul's thorn was not removed. How do we respond to God when it appears that he is not responding to us? What we often do is sit down and analyze whether we are praying correctly or fervently enough. We might also seek advice from others about why God isn't answering. Or we go on a hunt for our hidden sin issues and try to clean up our spiritual act. "Maybe," we think, "my faith is just too weak."

But so far as we know, Paul did none of these things. Instead he accepted God's no and embraced what Christ told him: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9). That was enough for Paul, as his response reveals. "I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses," he wrote, "so that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (v. 10). God brings thorns because they weaken us. Thorns break us of our self-sufficiency.

Paul found Christ's strength working in him to be so powerful, so joy-producing, that he came to see his troubles—and they were many—as friends. Can we say with Paul, "I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities"? We can, if we shift our thinking to view thorns as opportunities. There are things about God and the Christian life that we just cannot know apart from the thorns that spear our lives. That's why, when Paul had prayed for relief, Christ replied, "My grace is sufficient for you."

Do we find the grace of Christ to be sufficient? We won't until we stop trying so hard to pull out the thorns.

Labels: Christian Life