“There was given unto me a thorn in the flesh, The messenger of (s)atan 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 [H]e said unto me, ” My grace is sufficient for thee: for [M]y strength is made perfect in weakness.”  (2 Corinthians 12)

“..(s)atan hath desired to have you, [Peter]  that he may sift you as wheat; But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not…”  (Luke 22)

 

In was listening to a radio program and the host was talking about Paul’s thorn in the flesh.  This caused me to think upon Paul’s thorn in the flesh. Many persons have pondered the specifics of Paul’s thorn. It is obvious that Paul is using a metaphor as he was not complaining about an actual thorn in his flesh. Paul was speaking of an issue that would not be dismissed or dispatched. Paul was talking about something that was troublesome to his person.  What was this issue?

Some have suggested Paul’s thorn was poor, a residual effect from his mmeting with Christ on the Damascus road.  Others thinks it was a different malady. While others suggest that it was an issue of a sin that persisted.

Paul said that he “besought the Lord thrice” or three different times. He requested that this thorn be removed.  Our Lord, as He does, responds to the need or the cry of His own. Our Lord responds with, “My grace is sufficient for thee, for [M]y strength is made perfect in weakness.’  I researched the key words in our Lord’s response. Using Young’s Analyitical Concordance I found:  Sufficient = Satisfying;  Strength = Power, Ability; Perfect = To end or Complete.

As I thought upon this and thought about the greek words I came out with this, Christ’s  grace shall satisfy Paul,  For Christ’s power or enablement shall allow Paul to complete his course and bring him to his destiny.  Reader, I am not a greek linguist, I know not greek, but after using other resources it seems that this is what Christ was telling Paul.

Note that Christ seems to be taking Paul’s attention from the thorn or issue and causing him to focus of the satisfaction that is Christ and encouraging him or confirming that, in spite of the thorn, Paul would complete his pre-ordained destiny because Christ’s power and enabling grace would allow Paul to “finish [his] course.

But what was the thorn? I, personally do not think it was eye sight.  Poor eye sight doesn’t fit the “feeling” of the text. If one considers Paul comments in Romans seven (7), where he confesses that the things he should do, he doesn’t, and the things he should not do, he does it would seem that Paul, like all of us has an issue with a persistent sin.  One can also look to Hebrews where Paul, if he be the writer, speaks of a besetting sin and deduce that Paul’s thorn was a besetting sin. He didn’t want this sin (if that is the case), as he describes in Romans seven (7).

By the way, that is one of the differences between a sinner and a saint.  Both have issues with sin but the former doesn’t consider it and maybe doesn’t even realize it as a sin but the latter…the latter recognizes it as a sin and hates it even though it brings satisfaction, pleasure, relief, release, etc. In other words, the sinner pleasures in his sin while the saint does not find pleasure in the pleasure of the sin.  If a sinner was given the opportunity to stop what s/he was doing, the majority probably would not. The saint, however, if given to opportunity to be relieved of a besetting or persistent sin would absolutely be rid of it.

Why was Paul given this thorn? We learn God’s purpose as it is to keep Paul humble. Paul had many gifts, God had given him a large measure of faith and he was endowed with a great intellect.  In addition to his gifts and intellect, Paul, it would seem, was allowed, through a vision, to see what awaits all of us in heaven and it seem this is another reason the thorn was given. Paul, after seeing what awaits him and all that love the Lord, would be “Too heavenly minded to be any earthly good” but the thorn in the flesh brought him back to the hear and now and it seems it would keep him there.

What is true of Paul is true of us as well.  We have been given much from the Lord, He has put within us His Spirit, a sound mind, many blessings and He has made us partakers of the divine nature. He bestows much grace upon us, he gifts us, and He makes us a part of His everlasting Kingdom. He calls us new creatures, He reveals His mysteries to us, He makes Himself available to us and is inclined to hear our petitions and requests.  Reader, there are many reason to think we are something special………and we are, for Christ gave Himself for us.  We are a peculiar people, meaning we are the specific people Christ has chosen to love in stead of others!!!  YES, there is reason to be high minded.  Therein lies the problem.

This is the cause for a thorn in the flesh…it is to keep us grounded and in the right frame of mind.  It seems from the Lord’s response that the thprn would remain with Paul until he finished his course and kept the faith. This must be true of us too.

That persistent thorn in your flesh, whatever it is, may be with you until the end. Instead, however, of focusing on that thorn, focus on Christ, Who has promised to see you endure and finish your course even in spite of that thorn.

When I picture in my mind’s eye the thorn, I see a thorn from a rose bush.  Then I understand that the thorn that I bear is from the Beautiful Rose of Sharon, Himself, Who is Christ, my Lord.

The above is true of many, if not all of God chosen.  Christ told Peter he would be “sifted as wheat” by (s)atan just as (s)atan was the means God used to buffet Paul. Christ prayed for Peter just as He gave Paul satisfaction by His grace. Christ also prayed for you and me in His recorded prayer in John 17.

Peters great thorn, I would imagine was the (3) three denials of His Lord and Friend.  It is my belief, however Christ dealt with those (3) three denials with the  (3) three times He asked Peter “Do you love [M]e.”  I also believe the three (3) times Peter said yes to Christ’s love questions helped him, many years later as an old disciple, glorify Christ with his own crucifixion.

David, God’s darling and the man after God’s own heart had many afflictions brought against him. (s)atan was, again, employed to this end. David responded to these afflictions by acknowledging that God allowed the afflictions out of faithfulness to him.  David also acknowledged, “It was good that I was afflicted.”

Let us not forget One Who suffered the greatest affliction. Let us consider Him Who had not a single thorn in the Flesh but a Crown made of many thorns that was pressed malicioiusly upon His Head that was then forced deeper into His brow with the reed the coward guards gave Him as a sceptre. Let us not turn our eyes from the (3) three great spikes pounded into and through His Hands and Feet…

Let us “Behold, the Man” and consider, “What manner of Man is this.”  Let us confess and acknowledge, “No man ever spake as this Man,” and let us, by the pure and free grace of God say, “This truly [is] the Son of God,” Who “Taketh away the sins of the world.”  Let us also find the “Stone rolled away” from His borrowed sepulchre. I encourage you to, along with, ” Every knee…bow and confess Him Lord of lords and King of kings” for all that “confess [Him] before men” shall [He] “confess before the angels of [His] Father.”

Godspeed.