Break the strings

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. – 2 Corinthians 12:7-9

This morning as I read today’s passage I was given a visual way to look at it and apply it to my own issues. Yes, I have issues – a lot of them. The first thing that caught my attention was that it was a messenger of Satan that was tormenting the apostle Paul. God allowed the thorn because it would eventually serve His purpose in refining the life of His beloved child. The enemy, who doesn’t miss an opportunity to torment God’s children, makes the most of assignment given always trying to create doubt about our Loving Father.

There are some issues in my life that have been a thorn for many years. Often I have prayed for them to be removed always thinking that God wouldn’t want them in my life or the lives of my loved ones. But they are still there, why? Because God is using them to teach us that our strengthen is in Him not in our own abilities to handle the situations that we face. The enemy intends to use them to enslave us, but God intends to use the them for our ultimate good.

The visual I received today was that of a puppet on a string. The puppeteer thrives on pulling the strings and by definition is a person who manipulates – in this case Satan. The issues in our lives that are not removed often feel like a tool used by the enemy to keep us enslaved, angry, hurt and rejected. They go on causing feelings of insecurity, jealousy and judgement. Those are just some of the many strings that the enemy is pulling.

We are like puppets on a string when we participate in the destructive behaviors that the enemy is hoping to create through the thorns we experience. Our freedom comes from cutting those strings and relying on God’s power and strength in the midst of the thorns.

God is telling us that He is greater than those strings and when we begin to feel the pulling, we have a choice to make. We can either be manipulated by the enemy or we can break the strings and trust that God is refining our character through them. God is the One who is truly in control. The thorns have a Godly purpose and the sooner we submit to the refining, the sooner we will cease being played by the master puppeteer.

When the apostle Paul took his eyes off the thorn and saw that it actually gave him the opportunity to see Christ’s power in his life, he had a reason to boast for joy in the thorn that had previously caused him so much grief.

At first it’s hard to think of being joyful for something that has caused so much hardship and heartache, but the truth is we aren’t joyful about those issues, we are joyful that we have a Savior that is bigger than the issues we face. We have a Savior that is stronger than the pull of the enemy and we have a Savior that loves us enough to refine us.