GodReflection: Power Words

I was all too familiar with thorns as a kid growing up in a desert town of New Mexico.

Thorns met their match in the city. Pavement, sidewalks, small manicured lawns, and maintained parks assure the demise of city thorns. Sure, there are rose bushes. Those small spikes on the branches are a poor imitation of a genuine thorn.

To explore the Yucca lush foothills covered with cactus and thorn bushes while wearing a pair of cheap tennis shoes was to invite an encounter with a sharp thorn. Hands thrust into bushes in search of horn toads or stray baseballs ran the risk of a thorn encounter.

What made the encounter painful was when the thorn broke and remained buried in the flesh. Too deep to dig out and too painful to leave alone a good thorn puncture was miserable until the small wooden needle worked its way to the surface.

The Apostle Paul found the thorn to be a perfect analogy to describe a physical limitation.  To read between the lines of his letters written from prison some speculated an eye disease caused him to dictate his communication through a scribe and sign his name in large characters.

Paul called his infirmity a thorn. Three times he asked God to remove it. God has a better idea. By learning to dance around the thorn, the wound turned into a daily reminder of dependence upon God.

After his third request for removal, Paul records God’s response:

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Here is what I think.

In a soundbite celebrity-driven world the message of the media is perfect looks, articulate speech, and high extroversion get the job done.

I don’t doubt that God uses talent packed people. However, I can’t truthfully list hi-impact as a quality on my Resume.

Let me list my weaknesses—I wouldn’t have the courage to do that—and all of a sudden, resource for Resume bullet points would expands considerably.

Is it possible Paul was on to something? Is it possible for weakness to become a word of power to guide my walk?

Paul couldn’t leave the idea alone. It is as if the light continues to dawn on his situation.  He shares a golden nugget the next time he writes to the church in the City of Corinth: But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

The truth is this; no matter how blessed with talent all of us belong to the community of clay pots. With ease—I crack and shatter. Weakness is inherent my Adamic clay.  I am a clay pot not a container made of steel.

I like the idea of strength. Weakness is a thorn from a human point of view

Here is how I see my mission.

As I attempt to identify with the weakness of Jesus on the cross, I am aware of how God’s light shining through weakness makes it possible—not only for me—but also for others to live by his power.

I want to join with the Apostle Paul in the Thorn Dance. My challenge is to spend my life dancing around the thorn. I want to serve Jesus even though buried deep within is the thorn of weakness.

When from the posture of weakness I find myself used as an instrument for good, it is a lot easier for on-lookers to give glory to God and His Son, since there was no way for such power to come from weakness.

Weakness then becomes a word of power to guide my walk upon this earth.

I would love to hear your reaction to the idea of the thorn dance as it relates to weakness.

Stay tuned.

Dr. Gary J. Sorrells – A GodReflection on Weakness as a Word of Power

Gary@Godreflection.org