The Lord watches over you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. —Psalm 121:5-8

Have you ever been in a situation where you have thought, I wish somebody could see what is happening to me right now? Or maybe something good has happened to you, but there is no one to share it with.

The greatest fringe benefit of being a Christian is found in Psalm 121:5: “The Lord watches over you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand.” Do you know what that tells me? It assures me of God’s very presence. It is the most wonderful thing to realize that our heavenly Father is there. And there will come a time, if you develop the relationship with Him that is available to you, when His attention will mean more to you than anything.

The psalmist said in Psalm 16:8, “Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” This means that God promises us Himself.  Not only are we assured of going to heaven, but the greatest thing of all is that Jesus says to us, “You’ve got Me! I am with you always, even to the end. I will never leave you or forsake you.” There is nothing more wonderful than knowing that we have Him.

True, you know that you will go to heaven when you die. But when you became a Christian God didn’t just shake your hand and say, “Well done; see you in heaven!” No, He says, “I will be with you. I will see everything that is going on, your coming in and your going, both now and forever more.”

Excerpted from Higher Ground (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 1995).

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. —Luke 5:16

Billy Graham said that London is one of the loneliest cities in the world. He also pointed out (and I didn’t know this) that next to divorced people, university students are the loneliest people in the world. Paul said that loneliness may be a person’s thorn in the flesh. As for Paul’s actual thorn in the flesh, as we have seen, there is endless speculation. We do not know what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was, but it is possible that it was loneliness. He said in 2 Timothy 4:16, “No one came to my support, but everyone deserted me.” He said in 1 Corinthians 9:5, “Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?” You can read between the lines. Whether Paul was single, married, or a widower, he said he had the right to have a wife.

He was no doubt lonely, and all you have to do to confirm this is to look at his description in 2 Corinthians 11:25-30. Whether or not this was Paul’s actual thorn in the flesh, we don’t know.

This may be your thorn in the flesh, ordained by God at least for the moment. The devil will use it to torment you, but remember this: there is a purpose in everything that happens, and God Himself takes the responsibility for it.

Everything is for a purpose, and if I am describing your own thorn in the flesh—loneliness—then God has allowed it. The devil will exploit it, but the loneliness has a greater purpose.

Excerpted from The Thorn in the Flesh (Charisma House, 2004).

But when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. —1 Corinthians 13:10

Paul is not talking about the perfection of a Christian, but about the love that enables the Christian not to fear. John wrote: “There is no fear in love. But perfect loves drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The man who fears is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18).

If this glimpse of love we are given now is only in measure, how can it be called perfect? I answer: if you were to go to the ocean and dip a glass into the water, you would then have a glass of water that is taken from the ocean, and what is in it is the pure ocean. In quantity, it is nothing compared to the vastness of the ocean, but everything that is true of the ocean is there. And so, the perfection that Paul and John are talking about is a taste of the pure love of God. It doesn’t make us perfect, but it enables us to experience, that is, taste, perfect love.

When the pure love of God emerges in the heart, our world is turned upside down. There will be no grudging, no envy, no lust, no need to be seen or to be recognized. It is more wonderful than fulfilled ambition, more wonderful than the adulation of thousands. The pure love of God just wants the Father’s glory.

But what happens when our experience of this love fades? When it fades, envy returns, fear returns, panic returns, the need to prove ourselves returns. So we may ask, what’s the use of having it if it is going to fade? The answer: it is to let us know what to pray for, this most excellent way. Choose the route of perfect love, and do not be surprised if the charismata emerge stronger than ever!

Excerpted from Just Love (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 1997).

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. —Ephesians 2:8-9

What are you most thankful for? What am I most thankful for? There is also a distinction between what we feel most thankful for and what we certainly should be most thankful for. Chances are, however, that what we should be most thankful for is what we feel most thankful for—once we think about it for very long.

In one sense I am most thankful for my wife and for the children. But at the end of the day what ought we to be most thankful for? One word: salvation. The knowledge that we will go to heaven and not to hell when we die. Sublime knowledge doesn’t get better than that.

The greatest reasons of all to be thankful are that (1) God sent His one and only Son to die for us on the cross, (2) that we heard this wonderful news, and (3) we were enabled to believe this message by the effectual power of the Holy Spirit. Not all have heard the message, but not all who have heard it receive it. Why do some receive it? Is it because they are nicer or better people—or more worthy? No. The only explanation is the sheer grace of God.

The greatest mystery of all is why God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son to die on a cross for our sins. I don’t understand it. Do you? All we can do is stand back and worship. And be so very, very thankful.

Excerpted from Just Say Thanks! (Charisma House, 2005).

O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you. —Psalm 84:12

Acceptance, therefore, means, you don’t deny the handicap. Don’t live in denial—pretending it is not there. God has allowed it, and it is there to stay. How do you get your nourishment, your strength? Accept your handicap or disability.

But there is more. Know that God loves you. Most important of all, know that you are saved. The greatest thing in the world is knowing that you will go to heaven when you die. There is only one reason you are saved: that God was good to you. He gave you the gospel; never forget that this life is not all there is.

Know that you must be special, because you are special. There is a definite reason why God has given you this thorn in the flesh. It is to drive you closer to Him, not further from Him. It is to keep you from being smug, conceited, or taking yourself too seriously. God could step in and take it away. But if He doesn’t, it will stay only because God’s purpose in it all is still unfulfilled.

Although I wish with all my heart that God would remove my own “thorn in the flesh,” I have to say also that I have become reconciled to its permanence. What I never thought I would say to God, I now find myself praying: “Lord, I believe now that it would be wrong if You took my thorn away.” I have stopped praying that it will go away, because I think it is one of the best things that ever happened to me.

I would therefore urge you, if you are waking up each morning and saying, “It’s still here,” to admit that, though you want it removed, there is a greater purpose in it all that God alone understands.

Whatever your handicap or disability is, if you accept it as being from God, it is only a matter of time until you see a purpose for good in it. Take your handicap from God with both hands. Why? Because He loves you, and it was His inscrutable, sovereign way of getting you to develop intimacy with Him.

Excerpted from The Thorn in the Flesh (Charisma House, 2004).

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. —2 Corinthians 12:7

A thorn in the flesh is not the same for every person. But if you are a Christian worth your salt, you probably have a thorn in the flesh. What may be your may not be mine. What may be mine may not be yours. For some it is a handicap or disability. For some it could be unhappy employment—or even lack of employment. It could be an enemy. It could be coping with unhappy living conditions. It could be a sexual misgiving. The list is endless.

The “thorn” may be recognizable to you but unseen by others. God may afflict you with some sort of impediment—by which you may feel He has stripped you of all self-esteem—but this could be utterly unrecognizable to anybody else. Why? Because this “thorn” is for you more than it is for them. Or it may be for them indirectly. It may be so embarrassing and humbling to you that it will make you a different person, such that others will not have an inflated opinion of you. But it is mainly for you—to keep you humble. Certainly it may end up being for others in the sense that they unwittingly do not extol you as they might otherwise have done. This is why Paul’s thorn kept him from being conceited; it kept others from exalting him beyond that which was warranted. But Paul’s thorn was mainly for him, and yours is mainly for you.

It is one that is not likely to go away very soon, if ever. You will ask, “Do I have to bear this forever?” Maybe not, but you could. You are probably, though, going to have it for a while. Paul said, “I prayed three times that it might go away.” It’s like a prison sentence. It may be a life sentence, or it may be a short period of time. Paul’s thorn apparently remained. In other words, it will stay with you as long as you need it.

Excerpted from The Thorn in the Flesh (Charisma House, 2004).

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. —2 Corinthians 12:7

A thorn in the flesh is not the same for every person. But if you are a Christian worth your salt, you probably have a thorn in the flesh. What may be your may not be mine. What may be mine may not be yours. For some it is a handicap or disability. For some it could be unhappy employment—or even lack of employment. It could be an enemy. It could be coping with unhappy living conditions. It could be a sexual misgiving. The list is endless.

The “thorn” may be recognizable to you but unseen by others. God may afflict you with some sort of impediment—by which you may feel He has stripped you of all self-esteem—but this could be utterly unrecognizable to anybody else. Why? Because this “thorn” is for you more than it is for them. Or it may be for them indirectly. It may be so embarrassing and humbling to you that it will make you a different person, such that others will not have an inflated opinion of you. But it is mainly for you—to keep you humble. Certainly it may end up being for others in the sense that they unwittingly do not extol you as they might otherwise have done. This is why Paul’s thorn kept him from being conceited; it kept others from exalting him beyond that which was warranted. But Paul’s thorn was mainly for him, and yours is mainly for you.

It is one that is not likely to go away very soon, if ever. You will ask, “Do I have to bear this forever?” Maybe not, but you could. You are probably, though, going to have it for a while. Paul said, “I prayed three times that it might go away.” It’s like a prison sentence. It may be a life sentence, or it may be a short period of time. Paul’s thorn apparently remained. In other words, it will stay with you as long as you need it.

Excerpted from The Thorn in the Flesh (Charisma House, 2004).

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. —1 Corinthians 13:12

Not only will we be changed and able to look on the glorified Lord face-to-face, but something wonderful will also happen—God will tell us why. God wants to tell us why, far more than we even want to know. But the patience of God is extraordinary. He can wait. He wants us to know the answers to our questions, but He can wait.

Perhaps this appeals only to the person who is agonized with questions, who really longs for God to explain something. Perhaps the question is: Why is there a devil? Why didn’t God just destroy the devil a long time ago? Why is there injustice? Why is there evil? But Paul says, “One day I shall know.” F. F. Bruce has commented that the Greek word here, epignosis, should be translated as “understand.” Some day God will make things plain.

Sometimes our questions are not on such a grand scale but are more personal: Did I make the right decision? Lord, have I been living out of Your will? Did I fail You? Paul is saying we see the Lord’s glory only in a reflection, so we can’t see things perfectly. The mirror that enables us to see ourselves has its limits: when we look at ourselves in a mirror, we do so with a little bit of bias.

God’s Word is the spiritual mirror by which we see our hearts, but even here our self-understanding is limited; we will always be prone to self-righteousness and, therefore, be unable to see ourselves as we really are. Sometimes I will say, “Lord, show me.” But if I saw my wickedness directly, I wouldn’t be able to take it. If I saw the Lord’s glory directly I would die. No one can see God and live.

And so God graciously reveals things to us a bit at a time, like peeling the layers off an onion. With each new bit of understanding we might ask why we had to wait so long to get it right.

Excerpted from Just Love (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 1997).

Because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. —Proverbs 3:12

St. Augustine said that God loves every person as though there were no one else to love. Likewise, He deals with each of us as though there were no one else to deal with. He knows all about us and therefore knows what it takes to get our attention. The way God gets our attention and brings us to a degree of humility is by manifesting His glory.

But are you ready for this: the thorn in the flesh is actually a manifestation of God’s glory. If you pray for God to manifest Himself to you, you might say, “A thorn in the flesh is not exactly what I had in mind!” But there are many ways God shows up, both corporately and individually. Giving us a thorn is not the only way God manifests His glory, I am happy to say, but certainly this was one way in which He communicated with Paul and to each of us. See your own thorn as God’s weighty stature in your life, the dignity of His will for you at this time.

As well as being a manifestation of God’s glory, the thorn in the flesh is a severe form of chastening or disciplining. I will never forget my first introduction to the idea of being chastened. In that moment I felt an impulse to turn to Hebrews 12:6, which said, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (KJV).

This verse gave me some comfort, but the pain did not go away. It was my introduction—not to the thorn in the flesh—but to the subject of chastening. I knew God Himself was behind everything that was happening. I could live with that. Can you? Just to know that the whole thing is of God.

The thorn in the flesh, then, is from God, and it is a way of making us learn. Nothing else will work for us at the time. So God, who knows this, sends the thorn. It is not unlike what C. S. Lewis calls “severe mercy.”

Excerpted from The Thorn in the Flesh (Charisma House, 2004).

Love … does not envy … —1 Corinthians 13:4

A dictionary definition of envy would be something like “a feeling of discontent aroused by someone else’s possessions.” That is what I mean by being unsatisfied. However, love gives one a feeling of being satisfied. The person who is unsatisfied is still looking for his identity, wanting to know who he is.

Three things can be said about envy. First, it is of the flesh; it flows from nature. We don’t have to go to school to learn how to be envious; everybody grows up that way.

Envy is also a feeling. The feeling may or may not be verbalized, but it is there; you feel it. Envy comes from the Greek word that means “to boil,” that is, with hatred. Often we won’t admit that we feel this way. It flows from our dissatisfaction with ourselves and the feeling that other people are so much better off. Yet when this loves comes, we just don’t feel that way!

Envy is based on fear. Fear because of what we don’t have, being threatened by what others do have. But envy is misleading. Someone has put it like this: “If envy were not so tragic, it would be comical, because it is always based on a misconception of the other person’s position.” So, someone might say, “If only I had his money, what freedom I would have!” But when we are satisfied, we say: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want” (Ps. 23:1). There comes a time when the love of God is poured into our hearts, and we don’t feel any envy at all. We become happy with the way God made us and the way He has led us. That is what agape loves does for us: it doesn’t envy, and it is not threatened by another person’s position. Whenever we are tempted to envy someone, we need to remind ourselves that we don’t know the other side. Perhaps if we knew the facts better we would realize there is not so much to be envious of.

Excerpted from Just Love (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 1997).