When We Have to Keep Our Thorn

Yesterday was blog posting day and as I looked over some of my thoughts and ideas ...He wasn't moving.  He didn't  seem to have anything for me to share.

Does that sound familiar?
"I keep asking for one thing and the opposite seems to be the answer."
Sadness, sickness and sin seem to continue to abound.
Where did He go?
Is He asleep? too busy for me?  or just doesn't care?

📖 The pangs of death surrounded me,
And the floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me. Psalm 18:4-5 (NKJV)

📖 Why do You stand afar off, O Lord?
Why do You hide in times of trouble? 
 Psalm 10:1 (NKJV)

We are not the first and will not be the last to feel these feelings or even to ask these questions.  David lamented and cried out in anguish feeling separated from God, helpless, and almost hopeless.
 📖 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;
And in the night season, and am not silent.  Psalm 22:1-2 (NKJV)

But in his despair he would take a step back from his sufferings.  Would try to look at the bigger picture, so to speak.

 📖  When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,

What is man that You are mindful of him,

And the son of man that You visit him?

For You have made him a little lower than the angels,

And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;

You have put all things under his feet,

All sheep and oxen—

Even the beasts of the field,

The birds of the air,

And the fish of the sea

That pass through the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord,

How excellent is Your name in all the earth! Psalm 8:3-9 (NKJV)

It would remind him of who God is, and that He is still working, still answering.  Also, of who we are in God's plan! We are made only "a little lower than the angels"!  We are crowned with honor and glory!
If we hold that place with God, He has not forgotten us!
And David was reminded of that too!

📖 But You, O Lord, are a shield for me,
My glory and the One who lifts up my head.

I cried to the Lord with my voice,
And He heard me from His holy hill. Selah Psalm 3:3-4 (NKJV)

David would praise God...
📖 I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness,
And will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High. Psalm 7:17 (NKJV)
But he praised  God according to God's righteousness... not according to what David felt was right and just.  

In the New Testament Paul understood this as well. Learning to be content in all circumstances. Paul had sufferings of his own, persecution, his life was threatened, ship wrecked, thrown in prison, some sort of infirmity that we only know as "a thorn in his flesh" 
📖 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.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 
2 Corinthians 12:7b-10
When we do not understand God's answers we should hear Him say; "My Grace is sufficient for you, My power is made perfect in YOUR weakness"
My response should be...."make me weaker LORD!"

Paul was content in that weakness or in whatever circumstance he found himself.

📖 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:11-13

God is God I can not pretend to understand His plan and process.  What I can do is TRUST!

📖 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.

“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways    and my thoughts than your thoughts. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways    and my thoughts than your thoughts.   Isaiah 55:8-9

God knows best, not just for me, but for everyone.  IF I put my life, my faith and trust in Him then no matter what the answer is...I have to believe He has it...He has me 
📖 I call on you, my God, for you will answer me;
    turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.


Show me the wonders of your great love,
    you who save by your right hand
    those who take refuge in you from their foes.


Keep me as the apple of your eye;
    hide me in the shadow of your wings  Psalm 17:6-8
We know that we can not be in this world and not suffer, in some way or part.  When sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden it doomed us all to suffer.  And it never said the suffering would be balanced with the sin.  There is suffering.  Sometimes the righteous suffer horribly and the unrighteous (in our thinking) suffer very little.  But we need to leave that to God, and know that we will have suffering in our life and everyone's looks different.  BUT what is important is that God can use that suffering to do a great work!

📖 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. James 1:12

📖 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;  perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Romans 5:3-5

We may be in a dark place, feeling there is no light, no answers, or all the wrong answers.  BUT we have to hold on to the truth  that darkness can not win!
^📖  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:4-5

Even Jesus was going to feel alone, abandoned

📖 “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  John 16:32-33

But He knew He was not alone and neither are we!  Our Father is with us!  Jesus Christ is with us, and we have the Holy Spirit to comfort us.  AND we too can OVERCOME!

📖 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 1 John 5:3-5

I do NOT understand why God answers the way He does.  Why He heals one and not the other, why He allows for such pain and suffering.  BUT I do know that I am not supposed to know...but one day I will.

📖 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 
1 Corinthians 13:12-13

Verse 13 ends with "the greatest of these is LOVE...because that is what matters in the end...the LOVE God has for you, IN your suffering, AROUND your suffering and THROUGH your suffering.

AND in, around and through the answers.

I DO KNOW that no matter our prayer, ....no matter the answers...

🎶  Stay in the fight 'til the final round
You're not going under

'Cause God is holding you right now

You might be down for a moment
Feeling like it's hopeless
That's when he reminds you
That you're an overcomer

See don't quit, don't give in
You're an overcomer 

(Lyrics from Overcomer Written by: BENJAMIN GLOVER, CHRISTOPHER E. STEVENS, DAVID ARTHUR GARCIA  performed by Mandisa)

IF we LIVE for Christ, in all our situations, the "final round" will be our greatest reward!

📖 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! Philippians 1:20-22

🙏My prayer for you is Psalm 20. 📖

May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble;
May the name of the God of Jacob ^[a]defend you;

May He send you help from the sanctuary,
And strengthen you out of Zion;

May He remember all your offerings,
And accept your burnt sacrifice. Selah

May He grant you according to your heart’s desire,
And fulfill all your purpose.

We will rejoice in your salvation,
And in the name of our God we will set up our banners!
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.

Now I know that the Lord saves His ^[c]anointed;
He will answer him from His holy heaven
With the saving strength of His right hand.

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses;
But we will remember the name of the Lord our God. 

They have bowed down and fallen;
But we have risen and stand upright.

Save, Lord!
May the King answer us when we call.     ❤

🎵Overcomer  by Mandisa (inspirational and emotional video)

🎵Overcomer by Mandisa (Lyric video)

Another Song I had to include...I feel it speaks to this blog as much as Overcomer

🎵  Even IF by Mercy Me