41. a lesson from Paul

in one's journey through life
temptations are all a-plenty
a snare, a trap, a will to boast
to lift oneself up unnecessarily

what would it gain someone to boast?
it will accomplish nothing
and what would it profit a man to pose
claim greatness about something not his doing

the Lord is good
He safeguards us from conceit
trials may look like a thorn in our flesh
but in reality it protects us from Satan's deceit

sometimes He allows Satan's ministrations 
leaves us open for Satan to mess with and torment
it sometimes pushes us over the edge
to the point that we plead and lament

and when that happens, it is the time
to reveal that His grace is sufficient
the time to experience God's awesome power
Power made perfect when our strength is absent

if being weak means God is with us
who would despise the absence of strength?
it would be a joy to boast of one's weakness
and delight when in hardships, persecuted, insulted.

it doesn't matter much--
if in your flesh, you have thorns
with God in our lives,
the weak among us becomes strong

2 Corinthians 12

New International Version (NIV)

Paul’s Vision and His Thorn

12 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. ² I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. ³ And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— ⁴ was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. ⁵ I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. ⁶ Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, ⁷ or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.