TRUSTING IN HIS WAYS

TRUSTING IN HIS WAYS - audio link

The word says that the nations are as dust in a bucket to the Lord and yet we say that we know Him. 

And who can say we do not?  The real question is whether we know Him as we ought to?  This made me think of Moses that trembled and feared just with the thought of going up the mountain. So terrible was the Lord that the Israelites told Moses to talk to Him and relay the message to them, rather than them going up the mountain themselves.  They could not fathom the idea of talking to God.  And when we look at the differences in the Old and New Testament, you may see both the fear and love of God, but more so the fear of God in the Old Testament and more so the love of God in the New, depending on your own personal journey.   In fact, Yeshua caught the disciples quite off guard when He told them to call Him, “Father”.  Then Paul says, you have received the Spirit of Adoption, crying “Abba Father!”  For us this is quite normal and easy to accept to a degree, but to them, knowing their history, the testimonies and the scriptures, they could not fathom the idea of calling Him Father.  Fear Him, “Yes!” Call Him Father, “No!” The whole idea was preposterous, even though He told them over and over in the Old Testament that He is their Father and their God.  And so what we find here is that we have men of great stature both in man and in God’s sight in the Old Testament, like Moses, Joshua, David, Samuel, Elijah and the list goes on.  These men knew Him as their God and make no mistake, they feared Him.  Why?  Because they knew Him as God.  Not as Father, Friend, Brother or Bridegroom.  All they knew is that there are laws to abide to, and when you do, you will prosper.  Covenant.  I am saying it in a very simplistic way, but in essence they experienced His wrath of not upholding the law, the law being a schoolmaster, showing them that there is just no way to uphold it by their own means.  We have only read of this wrath, but have not experienced it as they did.  When they disobeyed 3000 men would be killed by snakes in the camp.  Or people would be swallowed by the earth opening up.  Or there would be leprosy in the camp.  Even the early Christians feared greatly, especially when Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead immediately when they lied against the Holy Spirit.  Great fear were upon all the people and the nations who revered this God who could separate the sea. And so, today still we find those that know Him only in the context of a God that is to be revered, worshipped and obeyed. 

On the other hand, Generation X who grew up in church and who have heard of how loving He is, His amazing grace and mercy, how He wants to heal us; how He is our Father and brother, friend and bridegroom, together with the now Generation Z who has no idea of either realities, have little to  none concept of fearing God in reverence and to truly tremble at His word.   Not in the same way as the saints of the Old Testament and the first century after Yeshua’s ascension.  All these wonderful truths.  And yet, the moment the words “We must fear God” come into play, we are like, ”Whoa, whoa…whoa! God did not meant for us to fear Him.  This fear means respect.”  Is that not exactly what the enemy wants?  You cannot understand fully unless you enter into or apprehend the thing for what it is.  And to the degree that you enter into it, will be the degree of how you see Him.  No less and no more.

Our God is reality and we have to know Him in reality.  The only way for us to have that is to enter into it.  And it will always leave us with mouth agape, seeing ourselves as we truly are in the light of who He is.  The same is true for understanding the Word of God as a whole.  We have to know the God of the Old Testament in the light of the New Testament.  Similarly we have to know the God of the New Testament in the light of the Old Testament.  For they are one.  When we see His severe judgment in the Old Testament, then we see the greatness of His mercy in the New Testament. Being REALITY, He desires to bring us into the reality of who He is.  We must want this.  Just like the Israelites, there are some of us who frankly do not want to know the God of the Old Testament.  They do not want to go up the mountain.  Others, do want to go up the mountain. We cannot see ourselves as we truly are without Him revealing to us who He is.  When He reveals Himself to us, it will always be in degrees.  We can only handle that much.  But this is also true about ourselves.  Because in revealing Himself to us, we come face to face with our frailty, weaknesses and pride.  This is a very personal journey and it comes with a willing heart to know the God of the Old and New Testament, because these two are one. 

We have read about Him and we know they are the same, but somehow I cannot for the life of me think that we will come out the same when we do know Him as we ought.  Just like Isaiah when He saw the Lord, held his hand to his mouth and said, “Woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips for I have seen the Lord!” 

A.W. Tozer in his book, The knowledge of the Holy, states the following…

“Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hold them.  ‘Thou thoughtest,’ said the Lord to the wicked man in the psalm, ‘that I was altogether such as one as thyself.’ Surely this must be a serious affront to the Most High God before whom cherubim and seraphim continually do cry, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth.”

“When they knew God,” wrote Paul, “they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts was darkened.”

Tozer further states that the history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God.  Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God."

And so He tells us in Matthew 5 that blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.  The question is, with what seeing?  New Testament glasses or Old Testament glasses?  Should we not have both on?  We do not fear Him because that fear comes with an acute knowing of the speck of dust that you are. With a holy fear, trembling at the idea that before Him you shall one day stand giving account of the circuit of your life.  “What did you do with the Life I gave you and what did you do with the fact that I slaughtered My Son on the altar of the cross to make covenant with you?  What did you do with that?  What did you do with the fact that the same God of the Old Testament, made covenant with you in the New Testament?”

When you meet with Him, you truly see no man and that would explain the type of men of the Old Testament, the patriarchs and prophets, who they were.  They were men who walked alone with God.  Men who stood before God and took it very seriously.  Men who truly trembled at His Word and His presence.  Men who knew that when they spoke, they spoke with the authority of the one and only God, whom they truly feared.  They knew that when He said it will be done, it will be done.  Hence why they could tell a whole army of bones to rise up and speak life into it.  They could tell the sun to stand still or the rain to stop for 3 years.  They could part the sea on His word.  Men who could kill lions and bears with their bare hands.  Men who knew God and truly feared Him.  Their faith was not build on the soft foundation of love, grace and mercy, but on judgment, obedience, and holy reverence of God.  It is not that they did not know about mercy, grace and love, but this was not their disposition towards Him, but rather a God of covenant. 

It is not that the one is more right than the other, but rather that we have to know Him in His fullness and desire this.  It is not that He wants us to fall into pieces and be weak and useless.  No, rather a balanced view. The God who devastates, but also the God who loves.  We have to truly know Him and He desires this.  Continually He says, “Seek My face and when you seek Me, you shall find Me.”

By no means am I saying that they were perfect.  In fact, we cannot help but be astonished by the fact that Moses, the great Apostle and Prophet of God, he who was called to have a meeting on Mount Sinai with the great and terrible God, fearing and trembling at the thought of it and having spent 80 days up there in total, could with one misstep, one occasion of a lapse in self-control through the agitation of moaning people, strike a rock twice in disobedience.  Just like that, he threw away his chances of entering Canaan.  Imagine that!  40 years in a wilderness of dealing with a rebellious stiff-necked people and just before you receive your reward, you lose it. 

What about David.  A mere shepherd boy who spent years in the field growing in the Lord whilst tending the flock.  There he slew a lion and a bear.  There he was taught to shepherd the Lord God’s flock.  David who defied the Philistine armies in the Name of the Most High and beheaded Goliath with one stone.  He gets his promotion as King of Israel, and when nobody was looking he was snuggling up with his neighbor’s wife.  And what did he get out of that?  A son who died at childbirth and a son who wanted to dethrone him. 

What about Samson who fell for temptation and lost more than what he bargained for.  His eyes, his freedom and his strength. 

These were all men who knew God, the great and terrible God, and yet still they sinned.  The Word has a plethora of examples of these great men who fell.  All for our benefit, our understanding and for our hope. 

Here is the question we need to ask…why?  Why in spite of what they knew about Him, what they have experienced and gone through, did they still rebel?  What will it take?  If they were not forever changed, what chance do we have?

And herein lies another question I have often asked myself. How was it even possible for Lucifer in all His glory to have spent a time in eternity before the throne room of the Most High, an archangel, head of the worship in all of heaven, to have worshipped in His glory, power and majesty, to have even had the thought, never mind the plan, to want to exalt himself to be as God? Unlike Moses on Mount Sinai, Lucifer spent time in the glory of God without end.  And of course we know the answer.  Pride.  And the only antidote to pride is humility, and so down he went.  Point is, in spite of all that, he still chose against the Lord God.

Who are we to think that we can stand and why above all things are we surprised when we do not?

He was stripped of everything and humbled by a great fall taking so many angels with him.  Some bound for the day of destruction, others working hard to do what they do best.  Only his demise was not for the purpose of humbling him only, but for his ultimate destruction. 

So it is inevitable that the question upon meeting our holy and awesome God that we are to ask this question of how it was even possible to fall from that height.  The same can be asked of Moses and all the other examples.  And this in turn will cause us to understand that if they could not do it, neither can we.  Nobody can.  And so we find Jacob wrestling with the Angel of the Lord, being Yeshua, and at one point after a whole night, the Angel of the Lord touches him on his hip socket.  And before a blessing is given to him, Jacob has to answer this very important question.

“WHAT IS YOUR NAME?”

It is not that Lord God had a memory lapse and was not quite sure who was wrestling with him.  This was for Jacob’s benefit.  And Jacob answered Him, "Jacob" .  What does Jacob mean?  Jacob means deceiver.  Jacob needed to hear this.  You and I need to hear this.  He had to come to the point where he realized that he himself is a deceiver.  Not that he occasionally deceives, but that this is who he is.  And truly this is who you and I are.  Imagine going through life, and each time someone mensions your name, you are reminded that you are a deceiver.  It is probable that after a while the humility is worn down and that you can later say your name, without wincing.  "Yes, my name is deceiver."  But this wrestling, as is ours with the Angel of the Lord, is not so that we can say, "My name is deceiver", but that "I AM A DECEIVER".  Big difference.  And so in our Christian walk, we like Jacob will say that our name is deceiver, but never come to the true end of ourselves to be able to authentically say, "I AM A DECEIVER".  Ecclesiastes 3 says the following…

ECCLESIASTES 3: 18 - 20

18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.

20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

The same pride that caused Lucifer to fall from such a height, and all those that have gone before us, is the exact same pride in us.  There is no height from which we cannot fall.  We are all beasts.  Truly wretched, deceived and deceiving.   David said in Psalm 51, Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me. 

Jacob had to know this.  And it took a serious wrestling that left him with a limp.  This limp was not taken away.  It was not healed because he came to this great discovery, but rather it was his for the rest of his life.  Whenever Jacob came around the corner, they recognized him from afar by his limp.  Always the limp. 

And Jeremiah echoes this important understanding for our benefit, being the very reason we should not trust in man, which first and foremost includes ourselves, but any man for that matter.

JEREMIAH 17: 9 – 10

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

¹⁰ I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

And so when Jacob understands that what lies in his heart is the same that lies in the Deceiver who fell from heaven, and he truly saw, it was then that he knew and the eyes of his understanding opened.  He was not giving lip service to the reality, but has actually entered into the reality and his eyes were opened.  He was weak, tired and had a limp and knew there was no good in him.  But it was then that he heard the following…

GENESIS 32: 28

28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

This word prevail means that he endured.  He did not overcome the Lord Yeshua, but he kept on wrestling, not giving up.  And right to the point when Yeshua saw that this man was never going to give up, He touched him on the hip socket in order to lame him.  In order to bring Jacob to hear what He has to say.  And so Jacob left there with a limp and a new name.   The limp was for him to know that within himself he is always weak, but with God he will prevail.  In His great mercy and wisdom, He has given us a limp.  This limp is the depravity of our hearts.  However, before we can get a new name, we have to come to the full revelation of this truth and not just give lip service to it.  This will radically change us.  In fact, it will be plain for others to see as we too will walk with a limp.  It will cause us to look weak in the eyes of man, but a Prince in the eyes of God.  This limp is never to part, but to be our constant companion.  The limp of knowing that there is no good in us.  And the reason why it never parts, is because we forget.  Just like the Israelites and those who went before us forgot.  In our moments of desperation we cry out to Him in the valley.  In mountain experiences, we lose sight of our valley and depravity, just like Moses.  The limp is not sin itself, but who we are.  The fact that we are dust before a great and mighty God, loved and cherished by a Father who has pity on us, but not ignorant of our true state.  However, we lose sight of it, and therefore, this limp is so that we will never forget who we are in ourselves, a Deceiver, and who we are in Him, a Prince.  Inevitably, our limp will require us to lean with our whole weight, that is to say with all our might, on Him, who is our staff, the strength of our lives.

Word from the Lord received 28^th December 2020

A LIMP AND A NEW NAME

You will never have to do anything alone.  I AM a very present help in a time of trouble.  Always present.  Always with you.  To help you, to give you wisdom and to show you the way. 

Yes, My eye is upon you, but I know your frame My child.  I know your weaknesses.  Is this not what I required of Jacob in the wrestling?  That he would come to terms with who he is?  Unless he wholeheartedly came to understand his nature, I could not call him a prince.  For he would have always leaned on his own understanding and wisdom. 

Unless I strike you on your hip and you learn to love your limp, for it is my provision, you will seek to climb up to where I am by your own means.  And yet, it is I that came down to you.  To meet with you.  For I am the ladder.  I am the way and you can only come up to Me by leaning on Me. 

Do not despise your limp, else you would have reason to boast.  But now all your boasting can be only in Me.  For you know what you are…a worm.  But in Me, a prince who have power with God and man. 

 Therefore, daily acknowledge your limp.  Acknowledge who you are in yourself and I will lift you up and call those things that be not as though they were…

Humble servants with crowns. 

I came to you as one serving.  I clothed myself in humility, that is to say I clothed myself in the weakness of flesh.  I had to be willing to enter into your weakness and identify with your suffering.  So you too have to be willing to identify with your own weakness.  Not the weakness of sin, but human depravity.  You can do nothing.  Neither could I.  But with God all things are possible.  Be willing to be nothing so that I may be your everything. 

A limp and a new name is yours, but never the one without the other.

 

Paul says in 1 Thess. 5: 23, May your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless….

This blameless is to be without guile.  A pure heart shall see God, but not only see God, but the things of God.  Visions, dreams and revelations.  This reminded me of Paul’s thorn in the flesh, which was causing him to be so weak and therefore living in absolute dependence on the Father.  Why?  Why was Paul to suffer so much?  When Paul met with Yeshua on the road of Damascus, he was struck with blindness.  And yet this is a man that saw great things.  Cornelius was told to pray for his sight, but also to tell him that he will suffer many things for the Gospel’s sake.  And then we read in 2 Corinthians 12 Paul saying the following in verse 1…

It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory, I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.  And then in verse 7 he says…

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the ABUNDANCE OF REVELATIONS, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

So Paul says, “In this weakness that is produced by the messenger of Satan, the thorn in my flesh, in this will I boast.” 

I do not know about you, but when I have a thorn in my flesh, I walk with a limp.  I struggle to put my full weight on it, and consequently one has to lean on something or hop to wherever you want to go.  This thorn in the flesh is said to have possibly been his natural eye sight.  In Galatians he says that he saw the compassion the people had on him.

GALATIANS 5: 14 - 15

14 And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

15 Where is then the blessedness ye spoke of? For I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.

GALATIANS 6:11

Paul says, “See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.”

 

Normally scribes would write the letters, but here Paul himself was writing. 

There are a few other scriptures that points to this as well.

This makes complete sense to me.  We are to be weak in the flesh, so that our only boast can be in that which is of the spirit.  The visions and revelations are not what Paul is boasting about.  These are just signs that he says are to his credit when they doubted him and looked upon him as a weakling, saying that he comes with great words and authority, whilst all the while being such a weak person to look upon.  I suspect that Paul could have been short in stature as well.  Oh the wisdom of God!  He knows exactly how to humble us.  And so Paul says in verse 5

Of such an one will I glory: yet myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.

He is saying that he will boast only of that which is accomplished by the spirit, in spite of the weakness of man.

What we see here is not a limp given, but a thorn.  This thorn, like the limp, also a provision.  In our lives Father may allow certain thorns as a means to humble us.  It may be through a husband or wife, an unruly teenager, finances, even sickness.  He allows these things for His purposes. Purposely working to have us blameless in body, soul and spirit for whatever way He will use us.  This is to protect us and to keep us in weakness, utterly dependent on Him in EVERYTHING.  He gives us gifts that in all likelihood not seen with understanding of His ways, may appear very offensive.  These are the thorns of which the prayers to take it away, like Paul's prayers, are never answered.  It seems harsh, cruel and unrelenting.  We do not value them as we ought to, because we do not want to, or we just simply do not understand why He cannot just take it away when He has the power to do so.  And so we do not glory in them as Paul do.

The depravity of man, our limp, which will always be there, until we arrive Home, is for the purpose that we may be wholly depended on him.  The thorn, in whatever form He so chooses, is there so that we do not boast.  Going through such lengths just to keep us humble should make us realize how deeply rooted it is in us to depend on ourselves and man and our propensity to boast, especially to boast about our spirituality.  Even of how humble we are. He knows the plans He has for me and for you, your children and your family. These are plans to prosper us and give us an expectant end.  It is important for you to know that if you have a specific call upon your life, that He will for your protection provide your thorn, so that you may walk humbly before Him.

Paul gives us a list of what he boasts in:

Infirmities

Reproaches

In necessities

In persecutions

In distresses for Christ’s sake

Quite a list.  And Paul was very familiar with each of these.  He said that he rather glory in these.  I can only think that each time he had a choice to make.  A choice to work with God or against Him.  He was not saying that he felt like giving everybody a “high five” because of his sufferings.  He was trying to relay the immense value of these in order to keep him humble.  Could the Lord God not have spared him this?  Could Paul not have just simply chosen to be humble? 

Paul clearly states that he is nothing in this same chapter.  Nothing.  And nothing can do nothing.  We cannot even humble ourselves without depending on Him.  And most of the time He has to provide the means. 

Jacob's limp was for the means of weakness, therefore creating a great need of dependence on the Lord God to live up to the name of Prince.  Paul was given a thorn with his limp, for the purpose of humility, because of the abundance of revelations he would receive. 

How we hate our limp and our thorn.  And yet in exchange for it we get a new Name that is that of honor and dignity.  A prince, who has strength with God and man; and abundance of revelation, visions and dreams. The cost is so great when we despise our limp, our weakness in the flesh, or the thorn He has given in our lives.  We are surprised often by our ability to express our devotion to Him with such ardor, and the next moment, we fall flat on our faces in sinning against Him as if we never had the conversation with Him in the first place.  This is like being surprised that the sun shines or that the wind blows.  He knows that we will do all these things.  This is why He says,

PROVERBS 3: 5 - 7

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. 

In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path. 

Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord and depart from evil.

What a different way to look upon our life’s struggles.  The world sees us as they saw Paul.  Weak, sickly, filled with distresses, prone to see us as pathetic.  But Father is requiring of us to know that these are His provisions for us to be wholly dependent on Him, not only to prepare us for the time to come, but even now in our daily walk with our limp, and our thorn to humble us.  This does not mean He does not want to heal.  That He is cruel and likes to see us suffer just so that His purposes can be fulfilled.  But rather, He has given each of us a will to choose.  Every single day, just like Paul, we have to choose whether we will depend on Him or not. 

Word received 10^th June 2021.

YOUR THORN

All who desires wisdom, come to Me and I will give to you.  Yes, come in faith for that which only I can give.

You have been heavy laden under the cross you have born for Me.  And when you take your eyes off Me in the carrying of your cross, all you see is suffering and pain.

But as much as My cross is suffering, it is also for My glory. 

Have I not said that I know the plans that I have for you?  You think it is to suffer, to bear a cross, but the cross is My means to glory.  There is no other way but through My cross.

You are weak, tired and you can sometimes barely place one foot in front of another.  But it is My cross, My choice of thorn in your flesh that I have purposed for you.  Just like My Father divinely chose the thorn of the cross on My back, My legs, My head and hands.

 I bore your thorn for you.

That thorn that is bound to My cross.  Do not resent the thorn, do not resent My cross.  Pick it up, ask of Me wisdom and I will give you liberally.  I will send the Simons to help you carry on your way.  I will be all you need on your way. 

In your weakness, I am strong.  Let My cross born on your back lay the weight of weakness on you, so that you can bear it with My strength.  For My grace is sufficient for you My child…even in this.

Some have laid their cross down, but I have called you to die daily.  Are you a son or daughter without a cross?  Have you no scar to identify with My suffering? 

Therefore examine your heart whether you resent that thorn I have chosen.  Whether the hand that is molding you has become an offense and humble yourself under My mighty hand. 

I know the plans I have for you, even in this.  Never lose sight of the cross you are called to bear.  My yoke is easy and My burden light, only by the grace I alone supply. 

You have much still to learn.  Therefore, do not despise the means.  Humble yourself under the weight of the cross and I will raise you up. 

When the fight becomes greater, your level of humility too.  That which you see as an obstacle, a detriment and suffering is My provision to humble you for what is to come. 

The greater the authority, the greater the humility.

Quoting Art Katz in his book called, The Anatomy of Deception”…

“The apprehension of God is very much affected by how we perceive Him, and therein lies the problem. We bring a distortion out of our own subjectivity and out of our own twist. We see God through a prism of our own being. There are some people who see God as some kind of a lackey or errand boy, who provides the convenience of meetings for entertainment and so-called 'blessing.'

PSALM 18:26

With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure. 

To perceive God rightly requires something from us. If we have any kind of controversy with God, the problem is not God, but ourselves; we are projecting something onto Him and becoming guilty of Israel's sin. The thing that we need is to be transformed into His image, not to project our image onto Him. He is not a convenience for us. He is God. He is the Creator. He is the Almighty. I think those words have lost their cogency. Maybe we have said them too often. They have become a catechism or an invocation of a mechanical kind. Unless we know Him in the place that is too deep for words, then we do not really know Him. Until there is a gasp and a splutter, until we find ourselves prostrate and stretched out as dead, do we really know Him? How many of us will go through an entire Christian lifetime without that knowledge and still be perfectly content, and think that we know Him, and that we can communicate Him? The Church needs to come into a place that is holy, holy, holy, where they know God as He is, and not just as they think Him to be. Only out of that place are we then able to make Him known.”

The reality is that He does not want us to find Him or know Him by what He does, but who He is.  This requires a demonstration of His ways that are often obscure and we do not understand why He does not do for us, what He does for others.  The way is still a way of holiness and not a demonstration of power or manifestations as our flesh craves.  But it is a way where all our categories of how we purport Him to be has to be brought to naught, so that we may know Him as He in fact is…reality.  In all His dealings with us, He is in fact making us to be like Him…holy.  So that we may know Him.  Therefore, trust Him in His dealings with you to bring you to that place where He may reveal Himself to you.  For this is His earnest desire, that you may seek Him and find Him, but you will have to do this with ALL your heart.  It is the only way to find Him and know Him as He truly is, no matter what the cost.  This is an intensely personal journey upon which He takes you, but you must understand that He requires all of you to know Him as He truly is.

PSALM 77: 19 

Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.  

His promise to us is that even though some things are in fact allowed by Him, it is done with such love and care towards us, whom He knows so intimately.  We will fall unless we depend on Him, but when we do, when we acknowledge our limp, not just verbalize it, but have allowed Him to break us down and cause us to come as dust before Him, and cry out in absolute humility, He will make a way of escape.  He will give wisdom and understanding.  He will be a very present help in a time of need.  He will be all we need, because He is all we need. He takes everything into consideration.  Those He uses to be that thorn, or that very infirmity, is not something that has caught Him off guard, but is serving His purposes, both for you and that person.  He is working in them at the same time He is working in you.  You may not always see it.  He holds everything perfectly in His hands and sees everything.  He loves us so much and we are His children and He will never fail us.  Whether in sickness or persecution, we can always have peace, because He never drops the ball.  When we have sinned and caused a breach in the wall for the enemy to come and kill, destroy and steal, we can know that when we humble ourselves, He will show us where we went wrong, and heal us, restore that which was stolen and cause us to grow even in more wisdom because of it.  For God makes all things work together for good for those who are called by His Name.  Can you believe that even in this present time with all the chaos in this world, that even in all of this, He is working it together for good for us?  He is always in control.  We can rest in Him.  The very thing that we thought would be the undoing of us, that husband or wife, that disorder, cancer or any other sickness, that stillborn, that loved one that have died, that disability or that thing that leaves you countless times in a place of being utterly out of control…that very thing, when we lean on Him, becomes the ladder to Him.  It never gets easy, but it does form in you such a dependency on Him nothing else would have, and that you glory in.  

It is then when we give Him thanks in all things.