Articles
Gladly Will I Suffer
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And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor. 12:11-12)
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We have no idea what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was, and given the fact that Paul didn’t bother to tell us, apparently it wasn’t important that we know. But we do know that it had a major impact on how he processed the pain in his life.
And, boy, did he have pain! In the previous chapter he gave a long list of all the troubles he had experienced in his career as an apostle. It wasn't pretty: beatings, imprisonments, persecutions, shipwrecks, slanders, robberies, betrayals by his own brethren--not to mention the normal afflictions of the flesh that were surely intensified by his workload: hunger, weariness, sleeplessness, cold, and the constant anxiety over the welfare of his spiritual children in the churches.
And then there was his thorn in the flesh. Some have argued that this was simply a catch-all label to summarize all the other adversities that he had listed earlier. But the "in the flesh" modifier seems to confine it to a specific physical ailment that complicated everything else. Whatever the details, life wasn't fun for Paul.
Yet in the midst of all this, Paul insisted that he would "gladly boast" in his afflictions, even "take pleasure" in them. He came to understand these troubles as an opportunity for God's strength to be displayed in him. The power was not of himself, but of God, and by soldiering on in the face of these difficulties, people could recognize a strength not of this world. Paul bore up under all the hardships in his life, and rather than becoming angry or depressed . . . he laughed. Do your worst, Satan, I know who will win in the end.
Whatever your “thorn in the flesh” might be, try to put yourself in Paul's shoes. Perhaps, like Paul, you have prayed in vain for God to deliver you from the struggle. Have you considered that perhaps God is trying to teach you the same lesson He taught Paul? That His strength is made perfect in your weakness! Your distress, as painful as it may be, could be the very avenue through which God's glory can be manifested to a host of others around you.
Your greatest strength could lie in the very weakness that humbles you. Be glad that God has chosen you for this task, and make the most of the opportunity.
--David
