October 03, 2022
Daily Devotion:
"Thorn"
2 Corinthians 12:8-9
New International Version
8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
Just what was Paul's “thorn" In the flesh"? All we know is that this "thorn" was inflicted to keep Paul humble in the wake of that incredible revelation in which he was allowed a sneak preview of the celestial realm. You and I might think it a worthwhile trade-off to be shown something of heaven's glory, but Paul pleaded with God three times, to no avail, for the “thorn" to be taken from him. Seems that God intended to use that “thorn in the flesh" to demonstrate his own power to overcome Paul's weaknesses. Various other passages tend to suggest that Paul's “thorn" might have been obscured sight, which would certainly be fitting, given the forbidden celestial wonders he had seen. This raises an intriguing question about why God allows for all sorts of incapacitating disabilities. Why does God permit blindness, or deafness, or scores of other physical and mental handicaps? We don't have to look far to find at least one instance in which Jesus gives us an explanation. Remember the man Jesus healed who was born blind? When various ones offered misguided explanations for the man's blindness, Jesus cut them all short, saying, “This Happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life" (John 9:3). Is it not possible, then, that the same is true of everyone who comes into this world as one of God's "special people"? If they are mirrors to us of our own spiritual blindness, deafness, and moral deficiencies, in what way might our own physical ailments and diseases be a reminder to us of God's power working through whatever adverse circumstances we face?
The question worth asking is: If I've prayed to God that he might take away some "thorn" in my flesh, what might I be still out on if that "thorn" was actually removed?
