Skip to main content

Thorns

It is that time of year again where there is plenty of work to be done outside. Just yesterday I was weed eating and got myself into a tangled web of thorny vines, which poked me through my clothes, and stuck into my skin. I am yet to meet a person who likes thorns; instead, I hear people jokingly blame Adam for the very existence of these nuisances. 

There is someone in the Bible who notoriously disliked thorns, and that was Paul. In 2 Corinthians 12:7 he wrote, "So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited."

What was this thorn in his flesh? There has been much speculation over the centuries, but the truth is we do not know. Using a thorn as a metaphor, Paul complained that something was bothering him. This thorn "was given to" him from God to keep him humble, and yet it was a messenger of Satan. It seems that God allowed the devil to use something, possibly a person (a messenger) to harass Paul as a way of keeping him humble. 

What did Paul do about the thorn? He prayed for its removal, as v.8 shows: "Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me." But God's answer was no: "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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

Paul would have loved to have his thorn removed, but the answer from heaven was no. The thorn was there for a reason; it was part of God's sovereign plan to keep Paul humble.

In his book Kingdom Marriage, Dr. Tony Evans wrote God is in the thorn giving business. We often want to blame our thorns on Satan or his messenger, but we need to understand that the thorn was for Paul's own good--to keep him from becoming conceited. 

If you have a thorn in your flesh, by all means, beg the Lord to remove it. But if He says no (you will know He says no if the thorn doesn't go away), recognize the thorn as something for your own good, embrace your weakness, and let the power of God rest on you. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To Save a Life

(Like my blog about the peace symbol, this blog was written as a default response to all the parents, students, and other people who are asking my opinion of To Save a Life.) By now you have probably heard of the movie To Save a Life, which opened nation-wide in theaters on January 22nd. The movie deals with so many issues that teens face today, like suicide, cutting, drinking, drugs, premarital sex, teen pregnancy, and abortion. At first glance this movie looks like an awesome resource that we should recommend for our teens, parents, youth pastors, and youth workers. But a closer look at the movie reveals a few disturbing things. For starters, according to pluggedin.com, there are 2 uses of the “A” word, 5 uses of hell (used as a curse word), and once the “D” word is used. There are other crude terms used to describe a girl, and crude terms for referring to sexual activity. There is also a bedroom scene that shows a girl removing a boy’s shirt, then afterwards the girl putting he...
38 comments
Read more

All Things To All Men

One of our favorite verses to use in our evangelism methods is where Paul said that he “becomes all things to all men” so that he might “by all means save some (I Corinthians 9:22).” This is certainly a good idea if we keep it in its proper context and application. For example, I remember a time in high school where I knew a kid that loved skateboarding. Being the chicken that I am, I was never a skateboarder. All he would talk about was skating, and I knew none of his lingo. But to help develop a relationship with him (he was new to our church and didn’t know many people), I brushed up on my skating lingo so I could ask if he had done any sick ollies lately (impressed?). This would be like Paul saying “to the skateboarder, I became a skateboarder.” This is effective and necessary. But then there are the people that use this verse to justify doing sinful things in the name of evangelism. The first one that comes to mind is about drinking. Some people will go into the bars to evan...
23 comments
Read more

What is a Curse Word?

I know. Stupid question, right? But lately I have heard Christians begin to debate what actually makes a word a curse word. Since the Bible never says, “Thou shalt not say the ‘s’ word,” how do we know that a word is bad? Because of this I have heard Christians justify cursing. The Bible gives a broad command for Christians to adhere to: let no corrupt word come out of your mouth (Ephesians 4:29). The word corrupt means rotten; therefore, we should never say a rotten word, whether it is on the list of curse words or not. First, we have to realize that there are curse words. On the night of Jesus’ arrest Peter was found guilty of using one himself. Matthew 26:74 tells us that when Peter denied knowing Jesus that he began “to curse and to swear.” This verse shows that there are curse words, and that they are wrong to use. I’m sure whatever words Peter said were not the same curse words that we have in our culture today. Here is the point: a curse word (or rotten word) is any wo...
18 comments
Read more