7 ……Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself. 8 Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.”
Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. ( 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 CSB)
I believe that all prayers are answered in some way. Either Yes, No or not right now. The last category I believe sometimes gets asked and asked and asked but God is testing us to see if we will endure until they are answered. Our prayer life is an area where God wishes us to grow and mature and His answers are meant to make us better.
I think the most difficult prayers to deal with are those that lead to the realization that they are Paul’s thorn. They are things God has in our lives so that we can understand when He says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.”
Let’s face it, we want God to fix things for us, that is just human nature. We do not desire the thorn or thorns that God allows in our lives to make us stronger or to manifest His strength in our weakness. For Type A individuals, which Paul surely was, this is even more difficult.
I think Paul was a fixer. He was a get it done kinda guy and he did not suffer weakness well. Thus, this thorn must have really caused Paul to question God. I believe our passage give great insight into this. Paul did not take it lightly and wanted it gone. I am sure he felt like it impeded his ministry. But God chose it for him so that He could sand some rough edges off of Paul’s Type A personality. He wanted Paul to know it was He who did these things and not Paul.
I have seen this thorn manifest in most believers lives. The question is whether we are allowing them to improve us or make us bitter. There can be perfection in pain.
