Dumpster Fire - Part 2

Daily Scripture Readings

Monday          I Peter 1:6-7

Tuesday         II Corinthians 11:1-15

Wednesday   II Corinthians 11:16-29

Thursday        II Corinthians 11:30-33

Friday            II Corinthians 12:1-6a

Saturday        Genesis 37:12-20

Opening Prayer

Gracious God, sometimes it seems life is a dumpster fire.  Remind me that when I admit my weakness and trust in your strength, I can recognize the fire as your refiner’s fire.

In Jesus’ name, AMEN

Reading

Paul’s letter to the Corinthians known as 2 Corinthians in the New Testament is called “the heart of Paul.” In this letter, Paul opens his heart and shares something of the frustration and turmoil that this great man endured. He tells how his life was made miserable by an affliction‑‑probably a physical handicap‑‑‑which he described as a “thorn in the flesh,” a messenger from Satan that buffeted his life.

Dr. Ralph Keiper had to live with a “thorn in the flesh.” In his youth, medication that was much too strong robbed him of most of his sight, yet that did not stop him from a life of service for his Lord. One day a friend, bothered with poor vision herself, asked Keiper if struggling with only 20% of his vision was annoying to him. Keiper, a rotund little man barely five feet tall, replied, “Oh, no, God wants me to see through His eyes.”

God’s answer to Paul was simple: “My grace is sufficient for you”‑‑the only place in Scripture where God speaks of His grace. The Greek word for sufficient speaks of unfailing strength. And the phrase that follows, “My power is made perfect in weakness,” bears the force of a definite and powerful answer (2 Corinthians 12:9).

At times God’s removing the thorn‑‑which He can and sometimes does‑‑almost pales in comparison with His grace which meets you day by day, especially those of you who wrestle with your thorn on an ongoing basis. Paul then told us that he gloried, he actually took pleasure, in his weakness, for he had learned that God actually delights to show how strong He is when we realize how weak we are.

Understand that it is not the strong person, the one who has need of nothing, or the self‑sufficient, independent person who needs no one’s help, including God’s, but it is the individual who understands how weak he is who is in a position to receive abundant help that God describes as His grace. Think about it.

Dr. Harold J. Sala