Today we’re going way back to the best days … the days of the 80’s. The days of big hair, and neon leg warmers. And no doubt, the days of the best music ever. I’ll start the song, and I know you can sing it.
- The big hair band Poison.
Every rose has its thorn.
Just like every night has it’s dawn.
Just like every cowboy sings a sad, sad song.
Every rose has its thorn.
Yeah it does.
But why? Why does every rose have its thorn? Have you ever thought about that? Why did God create beautiful, delicious smelling roses to have pesky thorns?
Thorns are there to protect the rose! This is the rose’s God-given protection from being eaten by all the predators attracted to its sweet fragrance. Because it is so sweet and so beautiful, it must be protected from danger, thus the thorns.
So yes indeed, every rose really does have its thorn. And these thorns are a good thing.
What is your thorn? What purpose does it serve?
Paul was God’s chosen messenger who wrote the majority of the New Testament Bible. He was anointed and gifted. He was created for a divine purpose and set apart to walk in his purpose as God had designed. Yet, all the while, Paul had a problem. A problem that just wouldn’t go away.
Do you know what this problem was called? A thorn.
2 Corinthians 12:7-9, “I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.
Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”
Paul struggled with a problem. We don’t know exactly what this problem was, perhaps a physical ailment, a mental challenge, or an internal battle, but whatever it was we know it tormented him. It was his torn. Nearly every translation of the bible refers to Paul’s problem as a thorn. Que the music, Poison, “every rose has its thorn …”
Why? Why does every rose have its thorn? Not to punish it, to protect it!
Paul’s thorn wasn’t a punishment, it was his protection! Verse 7 “So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.”
The danger to Paul was in becoming proud. He has great revelations from God. What he heard and what he had to share was magnificent. Countless people gathered to listen to him. He was a mega influencer!
And that was dangerous. Pauls gifting and calling made him vulnerable to becoming conceited and self-empowered. God, in all of his wisdom, knew Paul was capable of great and mighty things, but he also knew the dangers of him becoming all puffed up in his own greatness. God knew Paul being conceited would hurt the purpose for which he was created. So, to protect him and all the goodness he had within, he was given a problem that continually humbled him.
And although Paul genuinely wanted to be made well, and asked God 3 times, God said no. Not as a punishment, but as a protection. This torn protected Paul from the greater danger of being conceited. So, he was humbled.
Could the problem you’re dealing with right now be for the same purposes? Purposes of protection? This isn’t a punishment, this is to protect the potential God has placed within you.
What you have is precious. What you can do is powerful. But understand it is constantly under attack.
Why wouldn’t God just let you be wildly successful and make this look easy? Oh honey, haven’t you seen the enemy wreck havoc in lives that seem to have absolutely everything? Haven’t you seen the damage he can do in success? Haven’t you seen the touch of his darkness in the spotlight?
When you understand sometimes continual setbacks and struggles, failures and frustrations, are actually thorns that protect you from the dangers of your predator, then you can receive God’s grace that is indeed sufficient for you.
For the first 8 years of building BIG Life, I fought and failed. I tried everything to grow this dream God had placed within my soul to encourage others. It was the worst tango ever with 1 step forward and 2 steps back, and everything always in the red. On year 8, 2017, I officially gave up. I mean full on surrender, on my face, shameful disgrace quit. I canceled all future retreats. I had written and hosted my last devotional. I was ready to give refunds to everyone I was mentoring. God wasn’t removing this thorn, and I felt I couldn’t continue on with it blocking me. I was constantly hurt by what others said, failed more than I succeeded, and never felt good enough.
And in this time of giving up, God showed me his power. Yes, that same power Paul spoke about through his thorn in 2 Corinthians 12. Verses 8-10 say, “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.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
If you’re in this place that I once was, this place of feeling like you just can’t go on if God doesn’t remove this struggle, I pray you too can see the perfection in God’s power at work right now. HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU IN THIS. HIS PROTECTION IS PERFECT FOR YOU.
Without this problem, would you be listening today? If everything were easy, would you be here seeking God’s direction today? Or would you be proud .. proud of all you can do on your own and conceited in thinking you’ve always got what it takes?
That’s not who you are because honey, just like Paul, and just like me, you’ve got yourself a thorn. A thorn that humbles you. A thorn that makes things hard. A thorn that continually reminds you of your struggles. And although it doesn’t always look or feel like it, that thorn is God’s protection of all he has placed inside of you.
Every rose has its thorn, and every daughter of the King created to walk in a great purpose has her problem. Within that problem is God’s power at work. Within that problem is a humbling effect to keep us from running off with wild success into the pit of our enemy who prowls around like a lion looking for someone to devour.
God protects his girls! Today, let’s take a moment to thank him for the thorns in our lives that protect us from the intended harm our predator had planned. We are His precious rose, and we are protected!!!!!
Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela
Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim
Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com
