“Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8 NLT)
“For the eyes of the LORD roam to and fro over all the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are fully devoted to Him…” (2 Chronicles 16:9 BSB)
“And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.” (Mark 7:13 NLT)
I am Ready to keep blowing away the “traditions of men” so that the full power of God’s Word can be me released in my life. Holy Spirit, please teach me, and keep me from error as I learn from the Word.
When I look back on my life I can see times in which I have accepted, and even embraced, Satan’s attacks on my life due to misunderstanding the source and purpose of Paul’s thorn in the flesh. What could have been a season of growth became a season of pain, and could have become a life of unnecessary strife and struggle. Sadder yet, like misinformed Job, I have at times proclaimed to all that could hear me that God was the author of my suffering, when in truth it was Satan. The religion of acceptance that I developed in my deception replaced the relationship of freedom my Heavenly Father longs to give me.
Here’s another thought provoker…
Since religious tradition teaches me that the physical “infirmity” that I am experiencing is my “thorn in the flesh,” “given” to me by my Heavenly Father as a means of developing humility, then my acceptable response is to accept and embrace this “infirmity.” This kind of thinking does not come easy to most; which is why so many who have not been trained to think “religiously” reject the “God of pain” that we offer them. Why would anyone be attracted to a Father who purposely inflicts pain to “test” and “teach?”
Setting aside this flawed religious view of God reread 2 Corinthians 12:8-9:
“Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my weakness, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
A traditional religious mindset interprets this as Paul saying, “since God refused to remove this thorn, even after 3 intense begging sessions, it must be God’s will for me so I will accept it, rely on grace to live with it, and learn from it whatever God is trying to teach me.” Wow, where does that kind of false thinking come from? Could it be the “fiery darts” of the enemy of our souls?
Job thought this way and look what God said about his “religious” mindset when He confronted him in Job 38:1-2:
“Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” The New Living Translation makes this even more clear, “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind: Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words?”
Job, in his attempt to reconcile Satan’s attack on his life, with his “darkened” (ignorant) religious understanding of God, created a false religious worldview in which he proclaimed wrongly in chapter 1 verse 21 that “…The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Sadly, many still hold that false belief today, and thank God for the tragic attacks of Satan in their lives, Holding this view gives Satan license and freedom to attack me at will. God has not changed His response to this “darkened counsel” after all of these years.
So what was the Lord actually saying to Paul about His grace being sufficient?
Let’s look at that tomorrow. For today, I think we need time to allow the Holy Spirit to work with us in allowing what has been said thus far to sink in from…
…Eric’s Life Lesson # 76: “Time to turn over the apple cart.” Part 11: It’s my thorn in the flesh. (I’ve got some tweezers you can borrow) continued