Be still and know that I am God. _Psalm 46:10
Living with thorns is most challenging when it involves our physical bodies. Physicians frequently hear complaints of exhaustion, stress, and fatigue. As a society, we are weary people. If we are weary, we are exhausted in strength and endurance. We are simply worn out. Struggling with illness presses us harder, all we know is how hard it is to get out of bed every morning. We wonder why God doesn’t heal us. If we believe that God is able to heal us then we question why He chooses not to.

You may live with your own serious illness. If not, you probably know people who suffer from chronic illness, live with cancer or other life-threatening diseases, experience daily severe pain, or have experienced traumatic accidents. Our frail human bodies can deteriorate or be injured in multiple ways.

Inside-Out Truth

The most important key to living with thorns, especially physical ailments, is understanding how our culture has insidiously seeped into our faith. Biblical truth is upside down, inside out, diametrically opposed to what our culture teaches and values. Our culture prizes health, productivity, efficiency, accomplishment, and visible success. While these things are not inherently wrong and can be pursued in a positive way, they can also be destructive to our souls if we idolize them. We will do almost anything to avoid physical or emotional pain.

Logic dictates that if God were to heal some people, they would be much more useful to Him in accomplishing His purposes. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sometimes we make the mistake of viewing God through our culture’s eyes, as if He were our boss.

Here are truths we can glean from scripture that contrast with our culture’s workaholic values.

• Throughout scripture and the present day, God often selects the least able or qualified candidates to accomplish His work. He chose Moses, Joseph, Paul, prostitute such as Rahab and countless others who would not have the best credentials.
• Effective business managers remove obstacles from their employees’ paths so they can be productive and accomplish the most possible. God is a different kind of a leader. He often puts obstacles in our path so that we learn to trust Him.

God is our father, not our boss. Christ is our beloved. We are God’s precious children, His adored bride. God does not work in our lives to make us more productive but to bring us closer to Him. The Mary versus Martha syndrome rings true today, in major companies as well as churches. Jesus did not value Martha’s workaholic patterns but did appreciate Mary sitting at His feet. Wasting time is viewed as one of the worst sins in our culture. God is more concerned with who we are than with what we do.

Looking through our culture’s eyes, we may feel useless when we are sick. fatigued, or unable to function well. If we are not visibly useful to God, then what good are we? Yet God sees our physical weakness as an opportunity for us to focus completely on Him without distraction. C. S. Lewis said that pain is God’s megaphone.

Held Up by God

for the LORD will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. (Isaiah 52:12, ESV)

Isaiah 52:12 is one of my favorite verses. God goes before us to lead the way, and he comes behind to hold us up. A few years ago, I asked my doctor about my fatigue and unusual lack of energy, symptoms of a chronic condition I’ve had for thirty years. My regular medication did not seem to be helping. The doctor kindly explained to me, “I can help to regulate your body within normal levels, but I can’t change you into someone else.” This was the plain truth of the matter. Though I imagined what my life could be and what I could accomplish if I felt healthier and had boundless energy, if I were someone else,” that is not who God created me to be. When I am too exhausted to forge ahead, He leads the way. Every day, He holds me up.

Joni Eareckson Tada called the accident that left her a quadriplegic a “glorious intruder.” Without it, she says she would have probably lived a comfortable life with a little purpose. Yet which of us would choose to receive this glorious intruder or have one of our children experience it?

Food For Thought

• Do you have a “glorious intruder” in your life? Have you lived with chronic pain or illness? Does fatigue wear you down?
• Have you struggled with feeling useless to God, as you measure yourself against the world’s standard of worth? If so, read the following verses, understanding that God cares for you when you are ill or weary:

Blessed is the one who considers the poor!
In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him;
² the LORD protects him and keeps him alive;
he is called blessed in the land;
you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.
³ The LORD sustains him on his sickbed;
in his illness you restore him to full health. (Psalms 41:1-3, ESV)

This article is adapted from Living with Thorns: A Biblical Survival Guide by Mary Ann Froehlich.