'A thorn in your side'
Numbers 33:55
Can you remember at some point in your life having a splinter in your finger?
It can be annoying can't it?!
Maybe not significantly painful, but niggling and sore.
You notice it when you use that finger. Perhaps you try digging around with a needle to get it out - you may be successful, but it may make it worse - the splinter breaks and you resort to trying to soak it out.
It starts looking a bit red, so you put some medicated cream on it. Usually it eventually works it's way out, but just occasionally it festers and becomes infected, oozing and swollen. You have to go to the doctor for help.
Do you have something in your life which is like that splinter, or, as we read in Numbers 33:55, 'a thorn in your side'?
Something in your life which never goes away. It's always there, close by, niggling, prickling and hurting you, reminding you of it's presence, disturbing your everyday life and peace of mind.
How these thorns try us, don't they? How we long for them to be taken away!
Why do we have these thorns?
1. Thorns result from disobedience.
In this chapter in Numbers God is warning the Israelites of things that will become thorns in their sides because of their own disobedience.
God says they are to drive out the 'inhabitants of the land' (Numbers 33:55) so that they don't get tempted to start following their heathen practices, serving their gods and forsaking the one true God (Exodus 23:31-33). They were meant to 'make no league with the inhabitants of the land: ye shall throw down their alters' (Judges 2:2).
These thorns come because of things in our lives which we know are wrong.
They are like the bramble in our garden which we know we should have pulled up before it got too big and then we snagged our finger on a thorn. The things which we regret getting involved in. The things we know we should have said, 'No' to right at the beginning. Things which we indulge in which don't glorify God, and witness that we are a Christian.
What does God say ?
'Ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?' (Judges 2:3)
This might be a question we regretfully ask ourself! But 'what are we to do now?' This thorn that is so disturbing us - how can it be removed?
This thorn which has come because of our disobedience needs confessing to God and repenting over. It needs us to prayerfully do all we can to remove it from our life so that it is no longer there tempting us, reminding us, or involving us. We need to separate from it if possible.
It may be that it needs great prayer to God to undo the effect of it in our life - and it may be that it is something which we will have to live with for the rest of our lives.
When we catch ourselves complaining about how hard our lot is, may we instead be reminded of the real cause of it - the choices we made - our sins - and may we be helped to come to our merciful and kind God for help to bear it.
2. Needed thorns
There are 'thorns in our side' which have not come as a direct result of our disobedience to God.
We think of Paul, the Apostle, who said he was given a 'thorn in the flesh', 'the messenger of Satan' to prevent him getting too boastful about his spiritual experiences and to teach him to rely on God's grace and strength (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
These thorns are 'needful' thorns. Thorns that God sees that we need for our own spiritual good.
Does that make it easier to bear, dear friend? The knowledge that you only have this thorn because God knows you need it? Need it to teach you patience and submission to God's will for your life. Need it to teach you how much you need Him to help you. Need it to teach you how to be happy in Jesus despite it.
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Can we remove these thorns that the Lord gives us?
We often try.
We may think we have done all we can to pull it out, to soothe the sore skin, to heal any infection.
We try to make the situation better, to speak more kindly, to think of that other person's circumstances, make resolutions....but just as the skin healing over a splinter is thin, covering a collection of fluid, so your efforts to remedy the situation will not last, and the thorn causes the skin to break down, perhaps even worse than before.
'Lord', you cry, 'Help me'. Perhaps you wonder if God hears you, if God will ever take this thorn away.
Dear reader, if you are His child, how precious you are to Him. He will not leave this thorn in your side one second longer than He knows is needful to do it's work on you - to make you more like Him and ready to live with Him in glory. And perhaps to witness for Him here, and to be able to sympathise with and instruct others who likewise have 'thorns'.
Let us take 'our thorn' to the Lord every time we feel it pricking, or the wound breaks out again. Don't let us be like the one who waits so long to go to the doctor that when we eventually go he asks, 'Why ever didn't you come sooner?' Don't lets try and 'dig around with our needles' to manage it ourselves.
And let us be careful not to prod the wound the thorn makes - let us not encourage it to fester by keep dwelling on it and allowing thoughts about it to grow and worsen it.
We don't like the thorn because it prickles and hurts, but also because the wound can become ugly and spoil our appearance. Like the ugly sight of the wound, so our behaviour and words in response to our 'thorn' can become ugly, and those around us see our true nature. We feel ashamed and our pride is wounded that they have seen what is really inside us.
All we can do is to keep lifting our hearts, thoughts and thorn to the Lord every time it niggles and hurts, every time it brings us down in our feelings, every time it makes us feel out of control, shows our sin and shows our need for forgiveness, help and refuge.
And let us trust, that this needful thorn, is under the care of our Great Physician - our Lord Jesus.
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