The Wonder of the Cross – 40 Days with the Music of Vicky Beeching

Day 24 – Tuesday after Lent 4 – Needing You

To Read: 

From the Scriptures:

…to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. ⁸ Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, ⁹ but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’  So I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. ¹⁰ Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

(2 Corinthians 12v7b-10)

From Vicky Beeching:

Needing You

Father, You are my shelter
You are my place to rest and hide
Father, You’re my creator
You are the one who gives me life
I can’t live without You, even for a day
Laying down my pride I simply say

I am needing You and I’ll be needing You a lifetime long
I am needing You as I offer up this fragile song
In my weakness You are strong

(Repeats)

So strong. You are strong.

So strong

To Listen:     Needing You by Vicky Beeching

To Reflect:

How is your ‘Thorn in the flesh’ doing?  I have to own up that mine are flourishing and rapidly coming into bloom.  Which is precisely what they should not be doing!

I’ve had several thorns in my time in formal ministry, an experience which is not uncommon amongst those in leadership positions in the church.  It is almost as if there is something at work in the world that is against any good me, or any other member of my tribe, aims to do.  Yes, there are some people who, like the muppet characters Statler and Waldorf^[1] who are just plain ornery and born to be thorns in the flesh.  These are part of the package of being a leader in any community of any shape or size.  It is who they are and how they behave and the community just needs to get on and be the best place it can be for all its members, not only the easy to get along with ones.

However there are others who just seem to set me off and I can’t really blame them for my feelings can I?  I need to own to the fact that this is often not intentional on their part (some do not even know that they are being a bit thorny) and most of them are good-hearted people trying to live lives of service and gratitude.  

Sometimes it is a case of ‘six of one and half-a-dozen of the other’ when it comes to who is to blame and who has the ability (or enough humility) to change things.  It may be that either or both parties just need to grow-up a little and learn to lean on God’s grace more.  Or even simply ‘agree to disagree’ and each go about working in a different part of the vineyard of God so that we harvest grapes instead of sowing thorns.

But mostly, when I sit tending the scratches on my ego after yet another encounter in the briar patch of my life, I realise that I am the only one who can do anything about this.  The apostle Paul realised this when he came to understand that ‘thorny people’ may just possibly perhaps even maybe a godsend.   And if a godsend does that meant that, ultimately, they are good for us?

My problem is, and I somehow suspect that I am not the only who carries this delusion, is that I am absolutely certain that I am God’s gift to the Church.  A privileged White Male who went to a Private Boarding School with all kinds of Established Church kudos attached.  Why can’t people just see and do things my way?  After all, what’s not to like?  Sadly quite a great deal.  My daily early morning look in the mirror still makes me sigh and appeal to our Beloved, ‘Lord, how can you ever use this?’

And the whisper comes back ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’… 

Vicky wonderfully takes things deeper and again looks at Scripture sideways.  When we finally learn to lay down our pride.  When we get around to realising that thorny people can be God’s gift to us.  When we use our ‘ouchiness’ as a call to humility then it is not only a case of whenever I am weak, then I am strong but our weakness, our failure even, becomes an opportunity for the gentle strength of our Beloved to shine even brighter.  

Sing with me, ’In my weakness You are strong…’

To Pray:

To Do: 

Leave an anonymous gift or send an encouraging letter or note to whichever person is your current thorn in the flesh.

oooOOOooo

If you would like to find out more about Vicky and her work here is a link to her Wikipedia entry.  For a fuller picture her autobiography ‘Undivided’ is highly recommended

Please Note:  These reflections are also published on my blog: suffolkvicarhomes.com  on Bluesky as @suffolkvicar.bsky.social, and on my public Facebook page  Suffolk Vicar – Rev Andrew Dotchin. 

If you would like them as a daily email please send a request to revdotchin@gmail.com

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Acknowledgements:

These Reflections, ‘The Wonder of the Cross – 40 Days with the Music of Vicky Beaching’ are copyright © Andrew Dotchin 2026 and may be reproduced without charge on condition that their source is acknowledged.

All of the music on the video clips are from YouTube and are © Vicky Beeching.  

If you enjoy listening to her songs please consider buying her recordings.  A full discography and other information about Vicky can be found on her website vickybeeching.com.

Scripture quotations are from The New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition.  Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Prayers are from A Diary of Prayer compiled by Elizabeth Goudge and are copyright © 1966 The Estate of Elizabeth Goudge.

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^[1] Two view their ‘biography’ visit here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statler_and_Waldorf