Thorns In Our Flesh

When I first became il,l I struggled with the concept of disability and how that could possibly be God's will for me.  I wanted to serve Him as a Bible teacher, street preacher, minister.  Most of those means would be laid aside by my frequent memory loss, the chronic pain, the fatigue and, as I would discover, the inability to read and write clearly.  I prayed that God would heal me and let me go on serving Him as I had dreamed and as He had once called me to do.  I begged Him to change my physical life.  He chose to work on my spiritual life first.

2Co 12:7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
2Co 12:8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 2Co 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
2Co 12:10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

When I worked the crash pad ministry in Cayucos in the seventies, we used to sit around talking about Paul’s thorn in the flesh. What was it? Arthritis? Bad eyesight? Eye pain left over from the blinding in Damascus? Infirmities arising from his many beatings and persecutions? Arguments can be made for all of these and more. Based on what Paul says about writing in such a large hand, we can assume he had visual problems or problems with his hands. Based on the numerous beatings he took and the rods and whips used to beat him, he certainly had scars and residual injuries from those events. I personally believe he had residual injuries from all the beatings. He refers to a single thorn, a single messenger sent to torment him. Recurring, chronic pain arising from permanent injuries caused by beatings given by those who opposed the Gospel would meet that definition. What his thorn was isn’t really that important for us to know. It is sufficient to know he had one.

Why was the thorn given? Paul had been blessed to receive many revelations.

On the road to Damascus:

Ac 9:3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.
Ac 9:4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
Ac 9:5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.
Ac 9:6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9:3-6)

In Jerusalem:

Ac 22:17 “When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance Ac 22:18 and saw the Lord speaking. ‘Quick!’ he said to me. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’
Ac 22:19 “ ‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these men know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. Ac 22:20 And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’
Ac 22:21 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ (Acts 22:17-21)

At Troas:

Ac 16:8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. Ac 16:9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
Ac 16:10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them (Acts 16:8-10)

In Corinth:

Ac 18:9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.
Ac 18:10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”(Acts 18:9-10)

In Jerusalem again:

Ac 23:11 The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” (Acts 23:11)

On his way to Rome:

Ac 27:22 But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. Ac 27:23 Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me Ac 27:24 and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’
Ac 27:25 So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. (Acts 27:22-25)

The vision of Paradise:

2Co 12:1 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2Co 12:2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 2Co 12:3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 2Co 12:4 was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. 2Co 12:5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 2Co 12:6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say. (Acts 12:1-6)

It would have been easy for Paul to become full of himself over these revelations. He uses the fact of these revelations to impress on others that he meets the definition of apostle. The churches, at least among the Gentiles, would have admired him and exalted him over these events and others in his life. Paul beat his body into submission to avoid sin. The term used means to beat with the fist, but I am not sure what Paul meant here. I have always assumed he was speaking figuratively in reference to the struggle against sin in his life. We know he fought that struggle from the letter to Romans.

1Co 9:27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (1 Corinthians 9:27)

Ro 7:20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. Ro 7:21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. Ro 7:22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; Ro 7:23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. Ro 7:24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Ro 7:25 Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Ro 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, Ro 8:2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
(Romans 7:20-8:2)

There is a practical lesson here related to humility. You notice Paul says the thorn in his flesh was sent to keep him humble, to keep him from being conceited. God knows that without humility, we will return to depending on ourselves and you all know how well that works. It was only when God made my thorns so painful I could no longer pretend they weren’t there that I became more humble and drew close to Him again. Humility enables us to allow God to work in us and through us. Sometimes we need outside help to keep us humble.

Lk 18:13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ Lk 18:14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”  (Luke 18:13)

1Pe 5:5 Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 1Pe 5:6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. (1 Peter 5:5-6)

Paul was as human as we are. Being human he wanted to get rid of this thorn in his flesh that so tormented him. It doesn’t matter what it was. We all have thorns that drive us to our knees and cause us to need to lean on God. We need to lean on God, but sometimes it takes us a while to do so. At first we fight with the thorn and when that doesn’t work we fight with God, like that’ll work. Finally, we realize our need to lean on God to help us deal with this thorn or even these thorns. When we finally lean on Him, we begin to learn humility. I know how Paul must have prayed for once I prayed in the same manner. Three times he beseeched God to take the thorn away. Three times Christ asked that the cup be passed. When they didn’t get the answer they requested, they both bowed before God’s will. An angel came to minister to Christ. God told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you.” And “My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

Mt 26:39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Mt 26:40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. Mt 26:41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
Mt 26:42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
Mt 26:43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. Mt 26:44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. (Matthew 26:39-43)

Lk 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
Lk 22:43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. Lk 22:44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
(Luke 22:42-44)

I prayed as Paul did and I am certain just as earnestly and with a similar answer. I was a lot slower to accept matters and say “Thy will be done.“ The doctors had never seen anything like what was happening inside my brain tissue. If they had have never seen it, how could they predict whether it would continue or for how long? I am relying on the hand of the Lord. Like Paul I am humbled. I am also leaning on God and doing as much as I can to live the life God would have me live. . The scriptures have taught me like Paul to pray earnestly and specifically and to understand that the answer may not always be what we wanted it to be. We must bow to God’s will.

God’s answer to Paul was that He would give what Paul needed, but not necessarily what Paul wanted. God let Paul know, as He has let me know, that it is in our times of greatest weakness that He can be experienced by us most completely. It is in such times that we depend on the Lord and not our own strength or wisdom. Were it not for the illness that began some seventeen years ago, I would not have drawn so close to my Lord. Had I not drawn closer, then my family might not have come to walk with Him as well. Praise God for my suffering and the march into the unknown!

Paul’s reaction was not unlike my current one. He decided to boast in his infirmities. Rather than bemoan his circumstances, he decided to glory in them! For it is in such infirmities that he has the opportunity to experience the power of Christ in his life as He helps Paul deal with them! In our time of infirmity we can experience the strength Christ gives and develop the character that pleases Him.

It may be impossible to ever determine what the thorn in Paul’s flesh might have been. I believe that ambiguity was by design. If we who have infirmities know specifically what bothered Paul, we might not realize this lesson was for us as well. In times of infirmity we must do as Paul, and I, did. We must pray, earnestly and specifically. The Lord may not take away the infirmity, but He will give us the strength to endure it. When He does so for you, rejoice that the power of Christ rests in you!