To Curb the Energy

Such as these, and the many sorrows of the way are used of God as the "thorn" to curb the energy, to break the strength of "man." Circumstances, friends, relations, health, good name, all are touched by Wisdom in this holy discipline of the soul.
These things in the hand of God are like the riverbanks which on either side guide the stream of water which flows between them. They render the water useful and fruitful, which, if flowing onwards without these guides, would devastate all around instead of bearing a blessing with it. How often have we thought what good Christians we might have been if circumstances were different, in short, if the banks which carry the river were broken down. No, these are the wise dealings of our God to keep us just in the channel and path where we are, to shine and to glorify Him.
Like Paul of old, when the "stake" was driven home, we may cry to God, even three times, as he did: Take away this thorn, this terrible hindrance to the work of Christ, this feebleness of the vessel, this sapping of energy, this hindrance to service, this cruel "stake" from which the soul struggles in vain to be free. But no, there it remains until we find, in the acceptance of its bitterness, the occasion of a strength which is not of man, but the emptying us of fancied human power. We learn our powerlessness; we feel that struggling is in vain. Here the secret of strength is found, but not of man, not our own.