This thorn that hurts you so much...

"What the Lord has made known to me is extraordinary, so to prevent me from boasting about it, I have received in my body like a thorn : an envoy of Satan is charged to strike me to prevent me from Three times I prayed to the Lord to deliver me from this suffering, but the Lord said to me : "My grace is sufficient for you. My power really shows up when you're weak. So I will boast especially because I am weak. Then the power of Christ will dwell in me. That is why the weaknesses, the insults, the difficulties, the sufferings and the worries that I know for Christ, I accept with joy. Yes, when I'm weak, that's when I'm strong." 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10

Paul is talking here about a problem that makes him feel like a thorn in his flesh. For two centuries, theologians have failed to agree on what this thorn represented : was Paul sick ? Experienced by temptation ? By the opposition ?

"Do you also carry a thorn in you ? Jesus understands your thorn, whatever it is."

In fact, it does not matter : you surely understand what Paul was feeling ! A thorn is this thing that seems very small, but that in reality comes to take the place in our thoughts.

Our thorns, it is the financial difficulties that seem to persevere, or the disease that strangles us, the arguments of couple who multiply, it is this forgiveness that we can not give, this solitude of which we do not does not manage to get rid of it ... And like a thorn underfoot, well hidden, it hurts us nevertheless, sometimes even very badly.

In any case, Paul must be particularly tormented : he prays three times for God to deliver him from this thorn.

Do you, too, carry a thorn in you ? Know that even if it seems insignificant, even if it is not seen by anyone else, Jesus understands your spine, whatever it may be.

A prayer for today

Lord, thank you. Thank you, because you have been crowned with my thorns. And as to Paul, even in my unspeakable pain, you whisper to me : "My grace is enough for you, my power is really showing up when you are weak." Amen !

Eric Célérier

Source (The Thought of the Day)