So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12: 7-10

This evening I learned about some neighbors who left some deck-staining rags outside that spontaneously caught fire and cause some real damage. That’s a material problem we would all like to avoid, but I have at least four other friends who are simultaneously being confronted with insurmountable problems – stories we just don’t share with many others because of the pain and the lack of control we feel.

Throughout the second letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote openly about some of the trouble he experienced as a result of his faith and work on behalf of the Gospel. And in chapter twelve of 2 Corinthians, Paul discusses his own sense of weakness in the form of a “thorn in the flesh.” The thorn is never identified and probably with good reason because the thorn or weakness is not the focal point. Instead, Paul directs us to his own surrender to “weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities” as he trusts wholly in Christ.

Read through that list again. Weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities? Paul’s perspective was quite different than ours, right? Paul’s effectiveness as a follower of Christ wasn’t hampered by his pain because he could see beyond his momentary problems through his reliance on the grace that was enough.

We can learn from Paul’s commitment to call out to God when faced with a “thorn” and we can learn from his reliance on God’s strength and not his own. That is trust defined.