Painful Thorns

 What a difference 50 years makes in one's life! 

What was held in disgust years ago, people do it so willingly today. Was seeing a teaching on what the swimsuits looked like in the twenties and thirties of the 20th century. Everyone had on clothes, but was meant for swimming. Each dressed, the man in his slacks and the woman in a two piece suit covering from the neck to passed the knees. Today it is anything goes. You have a display of nudity in all forms on the beaches today. Sad to say, many have fallen into the culture theme of being free in sin. I remember the Rockettes of yesteryear. Those dancers in NYC were in the Macy's parade over Thanksgiving. What appeared were very thin women. What once looked like healthy dancers, with an amount of muscle on the legs and arms, today they are skin and bone ....Was wondering if it had to do with people losing weight just to be thin. What would Jesus think today?

Jesus was the “meek” man. He humbled Himself before the Father to walk in His steps regarding His image and the foundation of the work to be set forever in His word.

In God's perspective, people who humble themselves, are these people who are strong, while from a human perspective, it depends on whom they want to impress. You can see that in the story of those who impressed David’s son instead of staying alongside David as the King! ( of Ahithophel’s advice to the King seen in 2 Samuel 16, 17, and what occurs in 18) Ahithophel commits suicide out of bitterness in 2 Samuel 17:23.

At the point of Grace, we choose whom we will serve. We are told over and over to forgive those who have done something against us. Yes, and that can occur daily in this world we live in today!

But Humility is so important that God gave Paul some help to make sure that he would stay humble: 2 Corinthians 12:6-10 NKJV 6 For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to or hears from me. 7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Yet, this “thorn” in the flesh is a person. We know this because we see it in the Old Testament: Ezekiel 28:22- 24 NKJV “Behold, I am against you, O Sidon; I will be glorified in your midst; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I executed judgments in her and am hallowed in her. For I will send pestilence upon her and blood in her streets; the wounded shall be judge in her midst by the sword against her on every side; then they shall know that I am the LORD. 24 “And there shall not longer be a pricking brier or a “painful thorn for the house of Israel from among all who around them, who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the LORD GOD.”

From this verse 24, we see that insults of the nations are compared to prickly briers and painful thorns. Numbers 33:55 ‘But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell. 56 Moreover it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them.’”

 In this year, we certainly have the irritants of painful thorns. You expect truth and get that which relates to honoring the evil and to destroy the good!

From the time of Jesus, His walk was about the persistent heart giving the kingdom of God that had come: the Gospel! Jesus was effective in that He laid down His life and could take it up again because He spoke it into being. Paul saw the power of Jesus’ walk and proved to be an effective servant of God.

So humility has a dominant thrust in it where appears a willingness to submit to God, to what is His truth and remain in it to give to others. These two willingly submit to giving their whole life into God’s glory. So what would be the level of our humble hearts? Ephesians 4:3 …endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Unity with each begins in the unity each of us has with God. And it is within that unity with God you can keep unity with others.

So in returning to Ahithophel we find a most fascinating character. In 2 Samuel 15: 12 Ahithophel was a trusted counselor to King David. He was also a member of his cabinet. The King relied on Ahithophel’s advise as if he spoke from God himself seen 2 Samuel 16:23.

Ah yes, but things changed for the “bad”. It was David’s son Absalom that led a rebellion against him. and in this rebellion Ahithophel betrayed David by joining with rebellious Abasalom. AND we can know the king’s heart on this matter when David recounts those painful laments of heart when a trusted Ahithophel betrayed him in Psalm 41:8-9 and Psalm 55:12-15.

Psalm 55:12-16 NKJV For it is not an enemy who reproaches me; then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me; then I could hide from him. 13 but it was you, a man my equal, My companion and my acquaintance. 14 We took sweet counsel together and walked to the house of God in the throng. 15 Let death seize them; let them do down alive into hell, for wickedness is in their dwellings and among them. 16 As for me, I will call upon God, and the LORD shall save me.

AHITHOPHEL: whose name means “foolishness” certainly proved to be the foolish man and it was indicated in his first meeting with Absalom in 2 Samuel 15:12. Yes the rebellion was on! And some parts of historical record give a light on what occurred to make Ahithophel do what he did to the king! In historic background, Ahithophel was the father Eliam found in 1 Chronicles 3:5. And then the grandfather of Bathsheba, so this was a personal ordeal for the man who knew the king and had worked side by side with him. Yes, David as the king with loose morals at this time defiled another man’s wife. Instead of being on the front lines in battle with his men, David stayed in the palace and then had his eye on the lovely Bathsheba bathing.  So in this corrupted action on David’s part, Ahithophel’s sense of wrong crowded his thinking.

Yes, David was king but was to be the honorable and here he slipped terribly in the acts of murder of Bathsheba's husband Uriah the Hittite. What Ahithophel proposed in his pursuit of David is given in 2 Samuel 17:1…… Ahithophel gives Absalom advice: “Now let me choose twelve thousand men and I will arise and pursue David tonight. 2 I will come upon him while he is weary and weak and make him afraid. And all the people who are with him will flee and I will strike the king.

It was a personal hostility that Ahithophel held for David. 1 Corinthians 1:20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world. 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Through the Gospel, revelation of truth is power. And in the operation of God’s power through this gospel is victory over sin and death. But to the Jews, this very message of Christ crucified signaled weakness and proved Jesus the false Messiah. The Jews looked for signs instead of in Messiah’s power ( Isaiah 35; 61)  The Jews stumbled in this truth. And of course to the Gentile mind-set, they held no messianic expectations. No, they held only what a deity should be like, so the message of Christ crucified was foolishness to them.

Yes, David did try to hide his corrupted acts. He treated this young woman terribly and her husband even worse. He wanted her to sleep with her own husband to hide his dilemma her creating a child within her womb. But the honorable Uriah would not do that while the men he fought with would not have the same thing available to them. David proceeds with another act of betrayal to place Uriah on the front line of the battle. Yes, death would occur to this young man.

Ahithophel most likely burned in his thinking that became a hate with a force behind it! So Absalom set to take David’s throne, and he, Ahithophel, must have thought some kind of good must have turned towards him in favor, but David prayed in 2 Samuel 15:31 “O LORD I pray, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!”  Remember David had already prayed in Psalm 55!

In Ahithophel’s  counsel to Absalom to immediately attack David before he can regroup, a change occurs in a dramatic way.  A loyal friend to David, Hushai pretends to have turned to Absalom’s side and urges him to delay an attack. It was God causing Absalom to heed Husahi’s advice and Ahithophel realizes a fatal mistake. In bitterness, he knows that God will not punish David now. No, because David repented and prayed for God’s hand on the outcome of his own stupid behavior.

In despair it was Ahithophel who would die:  “He put his house in order and then hanged himself (2 Sam 17:23). In prayer, David displayed anguish. He wrote of betrayal in Psalm 55:13-14.  A seemingly spiritual companion betrayed David in verse 13: “ but it was you, a man my equal, my companion and my acquaintance”.

2 Samuel 15:31 Then someone told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, “O LORD I pray, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.

Humility goes hand in hand with meekness. Jesus the meek had a restraint being held in the “kind, the gentle, and the sensitive to others’ needs. This is done in truth, with no lying and stealing. They are those who will agree with that which is God’s word. They will not argue God’s word, neither will they insist on their own way in it. People could approach Jesus! They could speak with Him and He would return that which was life to them. He was and is the meek but He is not the “weak”! Like Jesus we are to be the firm and the uncompromising regarding following truth. And what is revealed to us is that Jesus did not overwhelm others who were aligned against Him.

God’s grace has been poured out to us! People who know their Lord and God are the blessed and it shows! We too can enjoy this abundance of grace. We should let people go and give them over to God.

Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” 15 “But if you do not forgive me their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Jesus hung on a Cross at Calvary and forgave the one who hung there with Him. Jesus told the man that he would be with Him in Paradise. The other went his way into hell. It was one who held onto Jesus the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Painful thorns indeed appear in our walk. But we keep our eyes on Jesus! You can see insanity in the world, but peace is found in the Lord alone!

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What are We Expecting Today?

Do we rise in the morning with no expectation of seeing or accomplishing anything of value as to another, or looking for the miraculous of God's hand intervening in our lives to know He is with us?

Are we seated in the seat of being complacent or do we fan the fire in our bellies to move forward to see the glory of God in our lives, and in those we pray for each day?

We will always find strength in prayer. When we pray the Word of God with the expectancy of seeing the unseen, we believe and trust for the miraculous in our lives.

In the years I ministered at the jail or in the Women's Shelter, I was always coming in to contact with some who thought when they received Jesus as Lord that all their problems would go away. Some thought they would acquire the "rose garden" and move through life without a worry!

As the Lord gave us favor to minister there, we continued to remind people, especially the ladies that in the Bible there are references to women like Hannah who had a painful life. She was the woman who shared her husband with another woman. The other extreme was that Hannah had no children with her husband.

We all can have some kind of painful experience and some may last for years. But when we go to scripture on Hannah, we can remind ourselves of the trust this woman had in her God.

When we move through each sentence describing her life with her husband, to the relationship with the other woman and the lack of no children, we view Hannah as the abused even within her own home.

But true stands the testimony that her worship was to her God. Even though she suffered terribly by verbal abuse from the other woman, Hannah never stopped sharing her heart with the Lord. She would pray out (1 Samuel 1:10) to the Lord and express the pain she was dealing with in her life.

Whatever the total amount of problems in her marriage, she always gained strength in prayer!

So do I rise in the morning with no expectation of seeing or accomplishing anything of value for say my family? Do  I rise today and look for the hand of the ALL MIGHTY GOD to show His arm strong in my life? Will today be just about me and my selfishness and pleasure or is my life set for the godly purpose to God's plan as was Hannah's?

Prayer should be our life-line straight to God's hearing. As we see in the scripture, Hannah devoted herself to prayer and expressed her confidence in the Lord for the answers she so desperately needed.

Will our lives mirror hers in relationship to the Lord? Will we continue to keep communication lines open in prayer and expect God's hand and power to flow in and through our circumstances?

Hannah, was wanting a child, and she got a son who she gave to the Lord. Hannah got her desire and willing gave without hesitation her child to the Lord's service. What faith! What true beauty of trust this woman had in the Lord! No matter the tribulation or trial, Hannah came through victoriously. She had a wonderful reason to praise the Lord. In all of her praise and thankfulness in heart, she received more children in her union with her husband.

No, it is not a "rose garden" and trials come and go, but our expectancy is in the Lord. For He will do valiantly, and the more our trust is in Him, the more ease and peace we will rest in knowing He has our back.

"Lord, stir us today to be powerful. Cause prayer to be as natural to us as breathing is to us. Today we come with praise and worship and through this prayer, we pour out our hearts before You! We need direction in our lives. We will not hesitate to give You honor and praise, as we fellowship with You, and as we pray to You, we have Your ear that hears us speak the desire of our heart.  We desire to co-operate with You and receive instruction for what we may face today. We thank You for illuminating situations we may not understand. We are thankful for the light of Your Word to come into those places we need to see and to make decisions made in truth, integrity and without pain and difficulty. We say thank YOU Lord, for showing and revealing to us the hidden things we need to know. We give thanks for Your wisdom and all things You have given to us that pertain to life and godliness. Thank You in advance of any warnings we may need. Thank You for the good plan You have for us today. As we keep step with You, we know You will continue to show us all the wonderful information You have coming to us today in Jesus' name. Amen.

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