The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“Because of the extraordinary greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!”

—2 Corinthians 12:7

Paul had a lot of abilities, experiences, and wisdom that could’ve made him prone to self–importance—not the least being his miraculous conversion on the road to Damascus. Can’t you imagine that many pastors in our day would use such a story to build their entire platform and would expect special treatment because of it?

Paul knew that was a danger for him. He was smart, educated, and raised to know the law and the existing Scriptures intimately. He’d been a rising star within the Pharisees before the Lord appeared to him personally. He had many reasons to be arrogant.

But God gave him this thorn in the flesh to keep him humble. We don’t know what it was, and it doesn’t matter. The point is that sometimes there’s a struggle the Lord allows to remain in our lives because he cares more about our character than our comfort.

If giving us what we want or taking a difficulty from us would cause us to become self–righteous, selfish, or anything harmful to Christ’s character in us, the Lord will keep us right where we are.

We can pray that our struggles are removed, but even if they’re not, perhaps the Lord will reveal how they’re growing us in the Holy Spirit and keeping us on his path. Either way, we can trust that all our trials will work something good in and through us when we love and follow the Lord in the midst of them.

The post December 14-Grace That Hurts appeared first on C. E. White.