“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. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’ .” 2 Corinthians 12:7-9
“These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.” Judges 3:3-4
God often gives us thorns in the flesh, as Christians, to accomplish his purposes in our lives. It is to test us to see if we will depend on God alone rather than on ourselves. In Paul’s case, God gave him some infirmity, apparently to protect him from pride, which could have arisen from the great revelations he had been given directly by God. Satan was allowed to “harass” him. The word for harass in the original means to beat or strike with the fist. This was not a light problem but an infirmity that was a consistent source of trouble for Paul. Paul pleaded with the Lord to remove the thorn but He refused so as to cause him to rely on His grace, which was sufficient.
In a like manner, God left certain of the peoples of the Promised Land unconquered to harass Israel and create a thorn to test Israel to know whether they would obey God. Paul passed his test and stayed humble, relying on God, and he was greatly used of God. Israel on the other hand, failed the test and turned to doing evil.
I believe a thorn in the flesh can be other things than just physical illnesses. For example, God may permit broken relationships or besetting sins (a strong temptation to one sin or another) to test us. Will we rely on God or turn to the empty well of ourselves? Many early church Fathers understood the thorn of Paul itself to be a spiritual temptation toward pride rather than an infirmity as the Scriptures do not specify. In any event, most of us have a besetting problem/sin/infirmity that God allows as a thorn in our life and for which God’s grace is sufficient and through which his power can be shown through our weakness.
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Hi Larry. I know many traditionally hold that God’s sovereignty implies that all (good and bad) passes through, at least, His permissive will. But based on passages such as James 1:13-17, I have a serious issue subscribing to that belief. Incidentally, Paul had just finished (in 2 Corinthians 11) enumerating many of his “infirmities”. I note that sickness was not among them. Not meaning to be argumentative, just hoping to provide some food for thought. Have a great day.
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Yes. Thanks for the reply. You are correct that Paul’s infirmity may not have been a sickness at all and I discuss that in the article and your reference to 2 Corinthians 11 is a good point to possibly support that view. In regard to God’s sovereignty, I do believe He is sovereign over all as supported by many articles in this blog. However, within that sovereignty, He does give us free will to choose if we will follow his commands and will leave “thorns” to test us in that regard. Hence, we are all responsible for our sins that we choose to do, as the James passage suggests, because we could have choosen to “walk in the Spirit” and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
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This is a good word on God’s Sovereignty over men, often confused by the idea of “freewill”. In Paul’s case God intervened in his life by giving Paul a humbling affliction to counter pride in God’s special revelation. God’s goodness spared Paul’s fall into pride. God treats everyone justly, but not similarly or fairly as the world reasons. His Sovereignty over Pharaoh and others explained in Romans 9:6-21, is difficult to grasp with fairness, but considering God’s justice, mercy, goodness and unquestionable purposes, (v.19-20) we can be assured He is loving, even showing patience to the wicked.
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