Please turn in your Bibles this morning to II Corinthians chapter 12 as we look at this idea of a thorn in the flesh, what it produces in our lives and how we are to respond to these things that come into our lives. As you are turning there, let me share this with you from Our Daily Bread. We are told:
We don’t often thank God for our trials, heartaches, and difficulties. Although we are willing to praise Him for His goodness, we sometimes fail to realize that even adverse circumstances are blessings in disguise.
Scottish preacher George Matheson had that problem. He realized that he was not as ready to praise God when things went wrong as he was when they went right. However, after he began to lose his eyesight, he changed his thinking. He struggled for some months with this weary burden until he reached the point where he could pray, “My God, I have never thanked You for my thorn. I have thanked You a thousand times for my roses, but not once for my thorn. I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensated for my cross, but I have never thought of my cross as itself a present glory. Teach me the value of my thorn.”
When we count our blessings, we should include the weaknesses, the hardships, the burdens, and the trials we face. If we do, we might find that God has used our difficulties more than the “good” things to help us grow spiritually. Why is that? Because it is in those difficult places that we discover the sufficiency of His grace. In our trials we turn to God. As we depend on Him, we find that His strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). Take a moment and think about the way God has led you. When you praise God for your blessings, do you remember to thank Him for the thorns? P. R. V.
- Our Daily Bread, Thursday, April 14
Here in II Corinthians chapter 12 Paul spoke of being “caught up” into the third heaven, brought before the presence of God. In this experience Paul was not sure if he had died and went to heaven or if the Lord just transported him to heaven and gave him this revelation. Because of that some believe this occurred when Paul was in Lystra where he was stoned and left for dead because of his faith in Christ. During that time Paul had what we might call an out-of-body experience! But God brought life back to Paul’s lifeless body if he truly was dead, and he went back to Lystra, the place where they had stoned him and began to preach once again!
Something that we should note out of this section before we move on is that in death you are alive, there is no soul sleep or Purgatory, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. For Paul, it was so real that he could not tell the difference between life and death, he was not sure! And as he is in heaven he heard words that were so beautiful that no human language would do it justice if it were spoken, if he had tried to translate it! It would be like trying to describe the beauty of a sunset to someone who is blind. You can try, but words would not tell of the beauty, you would have to see it for yourself to understand it. Thus, Paul does not speak of what he heard.
What a mountain top experience for Paul, it could not get any better than that. Yes, it truly could not get any better but it truly could be worse from a human perspective. With that said, let’s begin reading in II Corinthians chapter 12, starting in verse 7 and see what the Lord has for us this morning.
Some may wonder why Paul is jumping around so much. First he has a vision of paradise, a heavenly experience, and now this thorn in the flesh, what is up with that? I don’t believe Paul is jumping around at all but this thorn in the flesh not only flows from his vision of paradise but I believe all that God was going to show him in his life, all that God was going to do through him.
Remember back in Acts chapter 9, after Paul has his conversion experience on the road to Damascus. Paul was out to persecute Christians, arrest them and on the way the Lord got a hold of Paul’s heart and he surrendered to Jesus, he was born again. And Ananias was to visit Paul and we are told, “But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake.’” Acts 9:15-16.
Paul was going to be used mightily by God, he wrote thirteen of the twenty-seven New Testament books, and possibly fourteen if you include Hebrews as a book that Paul wrote. He spoke to the common man and he spoke to kings. Thus, God used this thorn in the flesh to produce some things in Paul that would help him to finish the race, to complete the course that was set for him.
Now please don’t make the mistake that this thorn in the flesh is like a thorn from a rose bush. It literally speaks of an 18-inch tent spike that was driven into the ground to hold a tent in place. What was this thorn in the flesh that Paul spoke of? We are not told, but there is much speculation from eye trouble, to malaria, to persecution, and the list goes on. But the truth of the matter is we don’t know for sure but we do know it was something major in Paul’s life!
I do believe that this lesson Paul has here in this chapter is not only for him or for the Corinthians but also for all those who are servants of Jesus Christ, you and me! As Moorehead said regarding Paul’s thorn in the flesh, “The precise nature of it has been concealed perhaps that all afflicted ones may be encouraged and helped by Paul’s unnamed yet painful experience.”
Thus, with the remainder of our time this morning we are going to be looking at what this thorn in the flesh produced in Paul’s life and should produce in our own lives as these things come upon us. And then we will look at how Paul responded to this situation and how we should respond to the situations that come across our paths, ones that are difficult, ones that are like a thorn in the flesh or a tent spike that is driven through our hearts. The idea here is this, “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” Romans 15:4.
1. A THORN IN THE FLESH PRODUCES . . .
A. HUMILITY –
II CORINTHIANS 12:7
God allowed Satan to buffet Paul, to beat him up in a sense with this thorn in the flesh and the purpose of it was to produce humility in Paul. Paul says, “lest I be exalted above measure” which is from the Greek word HUPERAIROMAI, (hoop-er-ah-‘ee-rom-ahee) and it speaks of exalting self, raising oneself above another, haughty.
I remember Pastor Jon Courson telling the story of how he was teaching a Bible study and every eye was riveted upon him, listening to every word he said. “What a message” he thought. After the study he invited people to the prayer room if they needed prayer and for those who had come to Christ they could be ministered to and helped out in their new walk with the Lord. And in the prayer room was one of his elders. Jon was so excited about the powerful message he gave and his elder called him over to speak with him, to congratulate him on that message from God that was so powerfully given, at least that is what Jon thought. And as the elder came to Jon and he whispered in Jon’s ear, “Jon, your fly is open!” Here’s the thing, he didn’t have a podium in front of him and thus, as he spoke, during this “powerful” teaching his fly was wide open! Humility – let’s face it, we all need it! Notice I have a wooden podium that I teach from! Wisdom!
Pride is like a monster, the more you feed it the more it grows and the more it grows the more you need to feed it until it not only terrorizes you but also those around you! And God will use things in our lives to keep us humble, to acknowledge it is all about Him and not us. One of the things that really has been a thorn in my flesh is diabetes. At the age of 29 I was healthy, I ran 2 marathons, 26.2 miles each plus some 50 6.2-mile races besides others that were longer and shorter. I was the picture of health, I could do it all, I was strong, I was invincible, no I was not woman! But you get the picture.
By the time I turned 30 my world fell apart or so I thought. Now I was no longer in control but this disease was in control, I had to pay attention to my blood sugars and-so-on. I truly was humbled and through it all, because I was wondering how I was going to do all that God had planned for me, I learned that my strength was in Him. I was truly humbled and in humility I could truly praise my Creator God! It is as James 4:10 tells us, and rightly so, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” The Amplified Bible puts this verse like this, “Humble yourselves [feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up and make your lives significant].”
B. PRAYER – II CORINTHIANS 12:8
Let’s face it, when you find yourself in difficult situations, a thorn in the flesh you might say, it does increase your prayer life, doesn’t it! As this infirmity, this difficulty came upon Paul he called upon the Lord, he cried out to God, which is the right thing to do. In Psalm 61:1-4 David tells us, “Hear my cry, O God; Attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a shelter for me, A strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings.”
Paul also tells us that he brought this petition, this prayer of deliverance before the Lord three times. Now some feel that this is a Hebrew idiom meaning many times, but whatever the case, Paul gave it to the Lord a limited number of times, he asked the Lord to remove this thorn in the flesh that was buffeting him on a daily basis!
As I sat in that exercise room of the hospital that night, being treated for insulin dependent diabetes, I was on one of the upper floors of the hospital, it was night and a violent storm was passing by the large windows I was sitting in front of. As I sat there the lightening flashed across the sky, the thunder blasted out, the rain came crashing against the windows driven by the wind, and I just literally cried out to the Lord that night. I asked God “Why?” I asked God to remove this disease from my body. Like David, I cried out to God because my heart was overwhelmed. I don’t know how long I was in that dark room that night; all I remember is the storm and my tears as I cried out to the Lord.
Warren Wiersbe tells us that, “When God permits His children to go through the furnace, He keeps His eye on the clock and His hand on the thermostat. His loving heart knows how much and how long.” As I was going through this I truly doubted that. The heat was intense, that fire burned hot upon my life and the time frame – it was going to last until I died! But I prayed and asked God to deliver me, that this thorn in the flesh, this messenger of Satan who is beating me up would depart from my life! What happened? Did God answer my prayers? Well, yes and no! You will see what I mean by that in a minute.
C. GRACE – II
CORINTHIANS 12:9a
Paul prayed at least three times to the Lord regarding this issue, that it would be removed and the Lord tells Paul, “No, it will remain but through it My grace is given to you, it will strengthen you, it will see you through it!” And Paul said, “Lord, do you want a little more time to think about this?” No, he didn’t say that. Paul trusted in the Lord, he rested in what God said and that was that! You see, Paul said in Philippians 4:6-7, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” He was living what he preached; Paul’s faith was real!
J. Oswald Sanders put it this way, “The world’s philosophy is, ‘What can’t be cured must be endured.’ But Paul radiantly testifies, ‘What can’t be cured can be enjoyed. I enjoy weakness, sufferings, privations [lack of what is needed for existence], and difficulties.’ So wonderful did he prove God’s grace to be, that he even welcomed fresh occasions of drawing upon its fullness. ‘I gladly glory . . . I even enjoy’ – my thorn”
As I sat in the hospital, watching this storm pass by, as I cried out to the Lord to deliver me from this diabetes, do you know what He clearly said to me? “Joe, My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” As soon as I heard those words in my heart a great peace filled my life. “Yes, the Lord is able, He can do it! It doesn’t matter how sick I may be, how weak I may be, the Lord will fulfill His promises to me! When I am weak in my flesh, my strength, it is then I am strong in the Lord, his strength will be seen through me!”
As Paul was desperate to have this burden, this thorn in the flesh removed from his life. As I was desperate to have this burden, this thorn in the flesh removed from my life. Sometimes the Lord does remove the burden but at other times He gives us the strength, His strength to bear the load. That is what the Lord did with Paul and it is what He has done for me.
I got diabetes in 1988, some 7 years before the Lord fulfilled His promise and brought me up here to Manitowoc to be the pastor of this church. His strength is made perfect in our weakness! We don’t deserve this grace in our lives, but that is what grace is all about, unmerited favor, undeserved favor that God has bestowed upon us. And God is faithful to bring to pass that which He has promised to each of us!
I like the way that Spurgeon sums this up. He says, “This sufficiency is declared without any limiting words, and therefore I understand the passage to mean that the grace of our Lord Jesus is sufficient to uphold thee, sufficient to strengthen thee, sufficient to comfort thee, sufficient to make thy trouble useful to thee, sufficient to enable thee to triumph over it, sufficient to bring thee out of it, sufficient to bring thee out of ten thousand like it, sufficient to bring thee home to heaven . . . O child of God, I wish it were possible to put into words this all-sufficiency, but it is not. Let me retract my speech: I am glad that it cannot be put into words, for if so it would be finite, but since we never can express it, glory be to God it is inexhaustible, and our demands upon it can never be too great. Here let me press upon you the pleasing duty of taking home the promise personally at this moment, for no believer here need be under any fear, since for him also, at this very instant, the grace of the Lord Jesus is sufficient.” Do you believe that? You should, it is God’s promise to us!
May we be able to rest in God’s promises that He has given to us, trust in the grace He has given to us so that we may forge ahead in His strength! God doesn’t always answer our prayers the way we think but He does what is best for us. And if we can trust in Him we can pray, and then rest in the decision that God has made for that situation!
D. POWER – II
CORINTHIANS 12:9b
Mature faith is not coming to a place where we are no longer dependant upon God, that we can do it on our own. No, real Christian maturity is realizing that we are totally dependant upon God and Paul saw this situation, this thorn in the flesh as something that made him even more dependant upon God. It is as Maclaren tells us, “Ministers of the Gospel especially should banish all thoughts of their own cleverness, intellectual ability, culture, sufficiency for their work, and learn that only when they are emptied can they be filled, and only when they know themselves to be nothing are they ready for God to work through them.” You see, I think we do know that in our minds, we understand that, but then it is letting that become part of our lives, that He is in control and we are strong we when we rest in Him and often when we are physically weak, we can’t do it any longer, then we tend to look up and rest in Him and God will allow that in our lives so that we can rest in Him.
For me with my diabetes, there have been some real struggles, times I don’t know how I am going to teach but God has seen me through, His power working through me. None of you know this but before I teach many times, I feel like my blood sugar is low, I have no strength, I am not sure if I am going to make it. And then as worship ends and I go up to teach, God takes over and His strength is made perfect in my weakness. I don’t know why I feel so weak before I teach in the physical sense because my blood sugar is not low, but I will tell you this, I am praying “Lord, strengthen me so that your Word may go out this morning and minister to us!” and He does!
To sum up this section on “A thorn in the flesh produces . . .” listen to what Spurgeon has to say, “Great tribulation brings out the great strength of God. If you never feel inward conflicts and sinking of soul, you do not know much of the upholding power of God; but if you go down, down, into the depths of soul-anguish till the deep threatens to shut her mouth upon you, and then the Lord rides upon a cherub and does fly, yea, rides upon the wings of the wind and delivers your soul, and catches you away to the third heaven of delight, then you perceive the majesty of divine grace. Oh, there must be the weakness of man, felt, recognized, and mourned over, or else the strength of the Son of God will never be perfected in us.”
And so, we have seen that a thorn in the flesh produces in our lives HUMILITY, PRAYER, GRACE, and the POWER OF GOD. But how should we respond as we find ourselves in these conditions, as Satan buffets us, drives that tent spike into our lives, that thorn in the flesh? Let’s look at that issue now.
2. OUR RESPONSE TO A THRON IN THE FLESH SHOULD
BE . . .
A. WITH PLEASURE –
II CORINTHIANS 12:10
Paul tells us that he takes pleasure in these things or EUDOKEO (yoo-dok-eh’-o) in the Greek and it speaks of approving or thinking well of, to be well pleased. Now how many of you, when you get stuck by a thorn from a rose bush say “Praise the Lord”? I’m sure none of you, and I will include myself in that, and what we may say I can’t even repeat!
Please understand that Paul was not a masochist, he didn’t like pain but he saw what these things produced in his life and in that he rejoiced! It is as Peter said to the church that was under heavy persecution in I Peter 1:6-9, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith — the salvation of your souls.”
Before I close this morning, let me say this. Just because you have a thorn in your flesh, a thorn in your life doesn’t mean that the glory and strength of Jesus will shine through you. “What do you mean by that? What are you saying?” Simply this, you can resist the grace of God, you can refuse to set your mind upon Jesus, and instead of the thorn being a blessing to you it ends up a curse. It consumes your life instead of you communing with God, drawing closer to Him. Spurgeon put it this way, “Without the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, thorns are productive of evil rather than good. In many people, their thorn in the flesh does not appear to have fulfilled any admirable design at all; it has created another vice, instead of removing a temptation.”
May that not be the case in our lives and if it is, then we must repent and return to the Lord, it is that simple. Yes, the mountain top experiences are great, visions of heaven that God gives to us, but don’t forget that the more God blesses the more He humbles, and the more He humbles the more we pray, and the more we pray the more we see God’s grace flow into our lives because we are looking for it and we see the power of God flow into our lives and through our lives which causes us to rejoice in the thorns in the flesh for a thorn is just an underdeveloped rose. Thus, mature and bloom in the Lord for His grace is sufficient for you and for me, no matter what we are going through!
Let me close this morning with a few words from our opening story now that we have some insight on what Paul was saying here in II Corinthians chapter 12. We are told, “Scottish preacher George Matheson had that problem. He realized that he was not as ready to praise God when things went wrong as he was when they went right. However, after he began to lose his eyesight, he changed his thinking. He struggled for some months with this weary burden until he reached the point where he could pray, ‘My God, I have never thanked You for my thorn. I have thanked You a thousand times for my roses, but not once for my thorn. I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensated for my cross, but I have never thought of my cross as itself a present glory. Teach me the value of my thorn.’” May we learn the lesson and grow in the Lord!