OUCH! THAT HURTS!
2 Corinthians 12:7-10, "And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."
Countless numbers of ministers have preached on these verses before and I don’t presume to have any “new revelation” of what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was. Other Bible scholars, much more learned than I, have been unable to ascertain just what bothered Paul, even though a number of opinions have surfaced. It may be that all, or some, or one, or perhaps none of these opinions are correct because the scripture doesn’t give us a clear answer concerning Paul’s thorn.
I believe that God has purposely left out the details of Paul’s thorn on purpose. I think that God intends for us all to think of those things that Satan brings against us, to vex us, knock us down, to discourage us and to allow for the testing of our faith in God.
I don’t know about you, but I have a thorn, or should I say many thorns, that seem to just pop out of nowhere to give me a pain in my body, pain in my heart and pain in my spirit.
What are some of those opinions on what Paul’s thorn was?
1)Tertullian, a Carthaginian theologian who converted to Christianity, wrote that, according to his study, Paul suffered from severe earaches or headaches.
2)Some later commentators, from the Medieval Period, said that Paul had a problem with unruly fleshly lusts and desires that he was constantly having to repent of and put down.
3)One scholar, by the name of MacKnight, concluded that Paul had a bad problem with stuttering or a stammering speech.
4)Another by the name of Ramsay, said that Paul had reoccurring bouts with malaria.
5)The majority of scholars mostly agree that Paul’s thorn in the flesh was acute eye problems. This may carry some weight since it seems to agree with two passages of scripture that Paul wrote.
a. Galatians 4:13-15, "Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me."
b. Galatians 6:11, "Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand." Some of these same scholars say that Paul’s eye problems were the result of the blinding vision of light that knocked him off his horse on the road to Damascus.
6)Many other scholars believe that it was not a physical thorn in the flesh that attacked Pauls’ body, but it was the fact that he suffered from so many infirmities and so much persecution. These, they say, were Paul’s real thorn in the flesh.
Whatever Paul’s thorn in the flesh was, we do know one thing – Paul didn’t like it and desired for God to take it away permanently. It was something that tended to bother him continuously or, at the very least, very frequently.
Personally, I tend to believe that Paul’s thorn in the flesh was something much more hurtful than just a physical ailment. But then, that’s my opinion and it’s no better or worse than anyone else’s opinion on the matter.
The point that I want to make with all of this is, regardless of what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was, we all have things in our lives that are vexing to us. Satan knows just what to bring against you that will cause you the most pain and suffering. The devil is seeking for ways to kill your faith, steal your victory and destroy your eternal soul in hell and he never quits trying to do just that.
Paul says that he received his thorn to vex him “lest I should be exalted above measure”.
The great Apostle Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles, preacher extraordinaire, teacher of the deep things of God, establisher of numerous churches than spanned just about the whole known world of his day, said, from his own lips, that he knew the reason for his thorn was to keep him humble before God. Paul was a man who was no different than any of us. He loved to be praised. He loved to be lifted up. In fact, he loved it so much that if God had not allowed this thorn to come to him, Paul may have become too full of pride or self-conceit and would have been useless to the Kingdom of God and the spread of the gospel.
That’s why God allowed that messenger of Satan to get to Paul in the first place. It wasn’t because Paul had already sinned. It wasn’t because Paul wasn’t walking in the will of God and in obedience to God’s Word. It wasn’t because Paul had strayed from the path.
Nowhere do we see Paul failing to carry out the mission that God had set before him.
God sent that thorn because he knew Paul’s weakness and propensity to sin, just as much as you and I are prone to sin too.
Paul wanted to be cured of this thorn, or to have it taken from him, once and for all. He prayed to God three times for God to take it away. Who can say that Paul’s faith was too weak? Who can say that he just didn’t trust God enough to receive his answer?
Paul did receive his answer to his prayer for deliverance – GOD SAID NO, I WON’T TAKE IT AWAY. LIVE WITH IT. GET USED TO IT. OVERCOME IT. MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT TO BRING YOU THROUGH VICTORIOUSLY, INSPITE OF THE THORN.
I don’t know about you but I’m not real happy about that answer that God gave to Paul because I know that God is no respecter of persons. That means that when my “thorn” comes, God sometimes says no to me too.
I can scream “OUCH”, all I want to. I can complain of the hurt and pain all I want to. I can cry, beg, pout, blame God for allowing it come, blame everybody and everything else for the times that I allow it overcome me, but, in the end, it’s my thorn that God has allowed to come into my life, and it’s there to constantly remind me that I’m not nearly as much of a “Super Christian” as I might think that I am.
The Bible plainly says in 1 Corinthians 10:13, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."
Thus we can see that no matter what the thorn is that vexes our soul and brings us such pain, or such powerful temptation to go back into sin, there is always a way of escape through obedience to the Word of God.
God enables us to bear the thorn, to suffer through it, to overcome it and to defeat it, every time it comes. When God told Paul that “His grace is sufficient” that’s what he meant. God’s grace will bring us through the sticking of the thorn every time if we will only stay humble, committed, sold out, and on fire for God.
The thorns can only overcome us if we give up and let them cause us to fall into sin or unbelief.
What kind of thorn might you have in your life that will force you to stay humble before God? Let’s put it this way, you can either allow that thorn to drive you closer to God in repentance, prayer and humility, surrendering your life to God’s will, or you can allow your thorn to destroy you, driving you further and further from God.
The problem is not just the thorn in your flesh; it’s what you will do when it hurts!
I don’t know everything there is to know about your life so let’s just make up a few examples of some “thorns in the flesh” and see if you can relate to any of them.
Physical Thorns – maybe there is a physical problem that plagues you and causes pain and suffering. I know that not all pain can be considered as a “messenger of Satan sent to buffet” you, but I wonder how much of it really is?
Maybe your arthritis is meant to keep you humble. Maybe your bad eyesight is meant to keep you humble. Maybe your crippled limb, or some disease, or some other ailment is meant to keep you humble.
Have you prayed for God to remove it, to heal it or to deliver you from it and He has not answered by healing you? Perhaps, if you listen closely, you will hear him say, NO, My Grace Is Sufficient for You, Keep Moving on anyway.
Maybe some of you have developed some bad habits like dipping snuff, smoking, or maybe even a drug habit from before you were saved and you have asked God time and time again to deliver you but it keeps coming back to haunt you. You can’t seem to overcome it and to get it out of your mind once and for all. Maybe you are under a constant siege of hell that tries to draw you back into your old habits and you are having a hard time resisting.
You cry yourself to sleep at night, or you are hurting right now, and you just can’t seem to touch Heaven with your prayer.
My friend, just maybe, you have encountered your very own “thorn in the flesh”. Who knows the ways of the Lord that are used to keep us humble? Is that why you have faced this same trouble over and over?
Let’s look at it from the perspective of being a “thorn in the flesh” and maybe we can gain a new insight.
The thorn is meant only as a constant reminder of how weak and frail the flesh is, and to remind us to go to God, who is our source of strength and power for deliverance.
The question I would have for you right now is this: Would you be as faithful to God as you are without the thorn?
Too many people leave the House of God and do their own thing when things are going well for them. They have no time for God. Their lives are just too full of the things of this life and they want all they can get from life.
They will leave church for weeks on end. There is no faithfulness, no commitment, and no joy in serving the Lord. There is only an attitude of self-sufficiency. That’s when the trouble comes back, the temptations to fall back into sin, and all those other thorns in the flesh start making their move to accomplish driving you to your knees before God.
God loves us too much to just let us alone to do what we want all the time. He knows where our will, will take us. He knows that we need to draw closer to him and so he allows the thorn to come, to remind us that we are going astray, to bring pain that brings us to our knees in search of God’s forgiveness and deliverance.
There are a lot of people who have ridden this roller-coaster of being free-spirited, independent, riding high in their spirituality, thinking that they were above all their troubles when God had to send that little thorn and bring them back down off their high horse and get down to serving the Lord. They are always going up or coming down.
Just as that roller-coaster ride at the fairgrounds only stays on the top or on the bottom for an instant before it starts down or back up again, that’s the way that life is for most of us.
It takes a lot of patience, a lot of training and a whole lot of praying and repentance to learn to put up with that thorn and still keep serving the Lord in spite of it. How many times must we cry and pray for deliverance before we will finally hear and understand those words of God, “my grace is sufficient”?
Some of you have fought that thorn in the flesh of financial troubles.
Some have felt the pain of that thorn in the flesh of pride and self-sufficiency.
Some have cried out in repentance every time they “fall off the wagon” into their old lifestyle because they haven’t stayed close enough to God.
Some allow old friends to hang around, or keep those things hanging around the house, or in the refrigerator, or under the mattress, where no one else will know.
These things become our thorn in the flesh because, sooner or later, they are going to bring us to the place where we will either obey God or fall back into the same old temptations again.
Then, because of the pain of the thorn, we will fall on face in repentance before God and He will forgive us and remind us that we can’t overcome these things alone. We all need God’s help.
When we ignore the prodding of the thorn and keep on down the same path in spite of the warnings of the pain, that’s when we cross the line into sin and rebellion.
Are there some thorns in your flesh, some things in your life, that are a constant reminder of your past life?
Are there some things that are always coming back to you to make you sorry for failing God because you did them again?
Are there sicknesses, pain, hurting, emotional problems, or something else that you have begged God to remove from your life and they just keep coming back?
Maybe, just maybe, those things are your own very personal “thorns in the flesh”, sent from God to keep you humble before him, lest you become self-sufficient and caught up in pride.
How are you going to react to those thorns?
Are you going to succumb to them and allow them to defeat you once again?
--Or--
Are you going to put your trust and faith in God and walk on with him?
We must remember that God has promised us victory in all these things. His grace is sufficient for you too, just as it was for Paul and just as it is for each of us.
God will bring you through victoriously, but only if you don’t surrender to the temptation or allow the thorn to win the battle.
Stay close to the Lord. Depend upon Him. Trust in Him. His grace is sufficient to bring you through.
Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording, including sermon titles, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these sermons. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copied and/or quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
