Soaring Above The Thorns

“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.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

The apostle Paul had a “thorn in his flesh” which was frustrating to him and he had petitioned the Lord three times to take it away.  The above is the answer from God to Paul’s petition. Paul was content with that answer…

“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 12:10-11)

But I wonder how he could be content.  Maybe it was because Paul was a student of the Old Testament Scripture and found comfort in the words of Isaiah…

“Do you not know?  Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:28-31)

As I grow older, and the reality of my mortality sets in, I realize that all I have to trust in is my "hope in the Lord" that just as He will not leave me in the grave, but will call me and all my loved ones out, immortal and perfect, “to soar on wings like eagles” just as He did for our Lord Jesus Christ.

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