To Encourage You

2 Corinthians 12:7 “a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.”

Is there anything in your life that you’d rather be without? Maybe it’s a physical affliction of some type – an illness, some incurable condition, or a physical weakness of some type – poor eyesight, hearing, that sort of thing. Or perhaps it’s a mental or emotional affliction – some prevailing fear that brings anxiety into your life far too often. Perhaps it’s a financial problem, or a problem in some relationship.  Yet you are a believer and you’re trying the best that you know to follow Christ.  Doesn’t God love you?  To hear some preachers preach, you would think that God wants only one thing for us – health, wealth, wonderful things.  That such teaching is a lie from hell is made evident from the verse above.  Paul tells us here about his “thorn in the flesh.” He doesn’t tell us what it is, other than “a messenger of Satan to buffet him.”  Sounds pretty ugly!  But we shouldn’t miss the point that this thorn was given to Paul, i.e., it was a gift – a gift given him by God.  Is that how we see such things in our own lives? 

Paul’s thorn drove him to prayer, which is always a good thing.  How easy it is to neglect the command of God to “pray without ceasing” when things are all wonderful in our lives.  But when trouble comes, aren’t we more inclined to talk to God about things?  Prayer is always good for us, and God in His mercy often helps us to see this by driving us to it when we would otherwise not be so inclined. 

But the other thing Paul’s thorn did for him was to “keep him from becoming conceited.”  Conceit, at its heart, is the root of so much evil.  Satan himself was led to sin by his own conceit.  This most blessed angel, Lucifer, i.e., “light-bearer” in the Hebrew, began to turn the light on himself, and thus his terrible fall.  If such a glorious being could do such a thing, and if such a spiritual giant as Paul was prone to conceit, what about you and me.  Those things in our life that we would just as soon do without – how we should rather be thankful for them, for God has commanded us to “be thankful in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18), not just those circumstances that seem good at first glance. 

May God give us the wisdom to see our thorns as His gifts, for if they weren’t necessary for us to become more like Christ, we wouldn’t have them.  Hasn’t He also told us that “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).  By “all things” He means “all things,” even, and perhaps especially, those irritating thorns in our life.