RT @jinojosa: (2 Corinthians 12:6-10) 6 For if I ever do want to boast, I shall not be unreasonable, for I shall say the truth. But I abstain, in order that no one should put to my credit more than what he sees I am or he hears from me, 7 just because of the excess of the revelations. Therefore, that I might not feel overly exalted, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan, to keep slapping me, that I might not be overly exalted. 8 In this behalf I three times entreated the Lord that it might depart from me; 9 and yet he really said to me: “My undeserved kindness is sufficient for you; for [my] power is being made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, will I rather boast as respects my weaknesses, that the power of the Christ may like a tent remain over me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in cases of need, in persecutions and difficulties, for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am powerful.
Random thoughts came to mind tonight. I thought I would collect them and wrote this:
How long have you had ‘a thorn in the flesh’? Months? Years? We don’t know what the apostle Paul’s was or how long. But Jehovah’s answer when he asked for it to be removed was, “My undeserved kindness is sufficient for you; for [my] power is being made perfect in weakness.”
Suffering with MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity) for four years now I sometimes lose track of what is important. And, perhaps, this may be the case for other who suffer an illness or face challenges that result from being a true Christian. I miss many meetings, my field service has suffered, my focus is scattered. But why do we focus on the negative so much? Because it hurts us to know that we must do all we can serve Jehovah but our bodies just don’t allow us to.
And yet we have something so valuable we have received: Jehovah’s “undeserved kindness.” If something is undeserved we have not earned it. Our decrepit bodies are flawed. We inherit sin the moment we are conceived. We do not deserve to receive Jehovah’s blessings, but we do. “My power is being made perfect in weakness,” says God. As much or as little as we can do theocratically brings joy to Jehovah and honor to his name. As long as we do what is in our power to remain faithful God has promised to give us “everlasting life” – Jn 17:3.
We have our brothers and his holy spirit to console us, comfort us, lift us, study the Bible and meditate on it. We are moved to do what is in our power and sometimes even more than what we can imagine.
How long can we endure? Joshua and Caleb waited more than 40 years. Imagine being born into captivity and hearing the stories of how Jehovah will send a deliverer. Finally he arrives. Things look worse, less straw for brick and more allotments to be made. Then the 10 plagues, a parting of the sea, Israelites falling to idolatry and then arriving at the border of the ‘promised land.’ Out to spy Caleb and Joshua go. What a sight! Just as Jehovah described! A land flowing with milk and honey.
But wait the men look tall. 6 feet, maybe taller. With everything they have witnessed nothing can stop them! Jehovah is on their side! Too bad the other 10 spies don’t have the same faith. And they convince a nation of perhaps more that 3.5 million that they cannot win. The sentence from Jehovah for a lack of faith? Wander the desert for 40 years until all of the age of 20 and up die, except for Joshua, Caleb and their respective families – Numbers 13 and 14.
The ‘promised land’ in their grasp! But not to be. Now if they could endure a ‘stiff-necked people’ for 40 years plus the years as slaves before, could we not endure our ‘thorn in the flesh’? – Deut 9:13, 14. Caleb and Joshua were blessed by Jehovah, and they too were mere fleshly humans. Jehovah recompensed them for being loyal. They endured to reach the “promised land.” They focused on what lay ahead and not dwell on the present.
In Jehovah’s ‘undeserved kindness’ he has promised us a land, too: Paradise – Luke 23:43. And, so, if we can focus on what lays ahead for us it doesn’t matter how long it takes; we will reach our promised land. Our thorns are temporary; don’t focus too much on them. Instead endure by holding on to Jehovah’s ‘undeserved kindness.’
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