#341.2 – “Bumps”

“And because the revelations were so very great, in order that I might not be overmuch lifted up, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, one sent from Satan to give me pain. And about this thing I made request to the Lord three times that it might be taken away from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is enough for you, for My power is made complete in what is feeble’. Most gladly, then, will I take pride in my feeble body, so that the power of Christ may be on me. So I take pleasure in being feeble, in unkind words, in needs, in cruel attacks, in troubles, on account of Christ: for when I am feeble, then am I strong.” - 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
The past few months, Grant has had a rash come up over his torso that causes these little red bumps. We took him to the pediatrician and then later to the dermatologist, and they both said that it was a virus that will eventually work its way out of his system. The treatment they recommended was a cream that you put on the bumps before he goes to bed at night. This is to help dry up the bumps and, in time, cause them to recede. The only problem with it is that if you give him too much medication, it irritates his skin and makes it itch worse than if you do nothing. So there is a constant balancing game that we have to play to keep the bumps in check and not hurt him too much either. Still – despite the discomfort – he doesn’t seem to let it keep him from doing what he wants.
In the context of the Christian life, there are some things and times that are kind of like those bumps – unexpected and sometimes irritating. Sometimes they take a while to work out. Sometimes the more you try to deal with them, the worse it seems to get. Take Paul’s experience. He had something that was just bothering him without end. Three times he pleaded with the Lord to remove it, but instead of removing the ‘thorn’, God used that experience to show His grace is a new and mighty way to Paul. For apart from that bump in Paul’s road, the temptation might have been for him to think a little too highly of himself and not near enough of God. But because God’s grace was a well on which Paul was desperate to draw from, it kept him at a place of acknowledgement that he needed God. And that constant reminder was undoubtedly necessary in God’s understanding, as He left Paul with it.
God uses even the bumps in the road of our Christian life to help us stay focused on Christ and His grace and what He has done for us. Let us then be grateful then, with the understanding that the bumps aren’t just there to aggravate us, but to keep us close to God.

Daniel