Humility is a character trait many claim to want. But have you noticed how difficult it is to become genuinely humble? Not easy! Stressful circumstances can actually help us with humility. The Apostle Paul was given amazing revelations by God, even to include a glimpse of heaven. But as verse 7 tells us, the Lord allowed a stressor to keep Paul humble. Paul was given a thorn in the flesh. It may have been a physical problem, but we don’t know for sure. Bible scholars offer differing opinions.
“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, NKJV).
In any case, Paul admits that the thorn certainly helped him from becoming conceited. Recently I watched some high school all-star basketball players perform on national television. A few stood out as ‘show offs’ and were obviously impressed with themselves. Just wait until their first days with a good college or NBA team. They will most likely be humbled quickly! Stress isn’t always negative. It can help to keep us to be humble. And that’s a good thing.
The content of this article comes from “The Warrior’s Bible” (2014) and is copyrighted by Life Publishers International. Used with permission.
