With Thanksgiving coming, some friends and I brought up the thorns that come along with the roses of family get togethers. Relationships generally grow with thorns, so we took time to pray over those heartaches, struggles, and family issues that will arise when the families gather, or in some cases, do not gather.
Thorns come in every way: grief, physical limitations, pain, people, loss, financial struggles, mental, emotional. For me personally, I think of ministering in song with sometimes crippling anxiety. I love how Paul addresses his thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. He turns the thorns into triumph by way of the throne. I hope this might be a blessing to someone today!
The Thorn
Since man sinned in the Garden of Eden, suffering entered the world to affect every person without prejudice. However, in 2 Corinthians12:7-10, Paul turned his God-allowed limitation into opportunity to showcase the glory of God.
Paul’s thorn in the flesh has spurred conjecture for centuries. Theologians of every denomination struggle to pinpoint exactly what Paul’s thorn referenced. Some believe it referred to terrible headaches from the beatings and the stoning he endured. Some guess that it was a malady of running eyes or blindness, as Paul spoke of in his letter to the Galatians in chapter four verse fifteen. Others have ascribed it to lust, wrestling with sin, false teachers or of Paul’s persecutors.[1] For specific purpose, Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, left the particulars out of this passage. Every reader of 2 Corinthians can find solace in their God-given limitations without their own comparisons falling short.
Richard Hester in his volume, New Testament Bible History, writes of the thorn as “a stake, a sharpened wooden shaft, used to impale or torture someone. It was not the sort of thorn that pricks the finger, but a stake to which one was fastened, as Christ was transfixed to the cross.”[2] This draws the reader’s mind immediately to the sufferings of Christ. While allowed by God and planned from the beginning of time, the onslaught of betrayal, torture, and suffering came in full measure from Satan’s workings.
In 2 Corinthians 12:7, Paul ascribes the purpose of God in allowing his thorn to humility after having experienced the privilege to enter paradise where he heard unspeakable words. Biblically, God uses all suffering for good to those who love him and who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:29 follows the familiar twenty-eighth verse with that purpose—to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus. This, however, sounds rather clinical to the one enduring the suffering.
Later in the passage of 2 Corinthians 12, Paul will reveal specifically what was gained from his limitations, but first, he speaks of his desperate prayer that God might relieve him of the thorn.
The Throne
Paul leads the sufferer by his example, as he seeks the Lord three times to relieve him of his thorn. Hebrews 4:16 encourages the believer, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” The preceding verse explains why such an offer is made available to the believer. “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
By bringing limitations boldly before the throne of grace, the hurting one can know more deeply the One who suffered on his behalf at every point. Jesus encouraged the disciples to “ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:” Matthew 7:7. Later, in Luke 18:1, Jesus exhorted the listeners to pray and not to faint. Clearly, He wants His children to ask for healing or for whatever they need with faith that God will answer.
However, in Paul’s case, God’s answer did not remove his limitations. Instead, He answered Paul in verse nine with these words: “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Though Paul could have been discouraged at the answer, he chose to embrace God’s grace with acceptance. Paul chose to accept the weakness God allowed as a gift sent directly from His hand.
The Triumph
With the thorn came God’s all-sufficient grace. To trade full strength without limitations for God’s strength in weakness assured Paul that Christ would be glorified. Many a man who has garnered praise for his strength has been fooled into thinking he acted alone, thus robbing God of the glory that only he deserves. However, when one ministers under severe limitations, the power of God at work is clearly seen.
Early in his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul stressed that one of the purposes of suffering is to extend the God-given comfort to fellow sufferers. Later, in Galatians, he exhorted the believers to bear one another’s burdens. Unless one has borne the weight of suffering limitations, he rarely has patience or compassion to carry the burdens of others.
“A burden is something that is carried. It suggests feeling the weight of something; it suggests fatigue or heaviness. To carry a weight requires effort, energy. To walk down the street free of weight is an entirely different experience than walking down the street shouldering a burden.”[4]
And finally, out of struggle, faith is made purer and deeper, fixing the sufferers eyes more firmly on the eternal. Weakness drives the sufferer to rest in Christ’s strength, which procures a victory far beyond what a life lived without limitations could obtain. Those who have been through severe suffering can speak of their faith with much deeper conviction and understanding than those who have not faced the crucible.
[1] Ronald Russell. 1996. “Redemptive Suffering and Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh.” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society JETS 39:4, no. December (December): 559.
[2] H Richard Hester. 2008. New Testament Bible History Illustrated: Handbook. Blacktown, NSW, Australia: H. Richard Hester. 154.
[4] Diane Langberg. 2004. “The Art of Bearing Burdens.” Reformation and Revival RAR 13:2, no. April (April): 57.
I pray that as you enter this time set aside for Thanksgiving, you see God at work through the thorns, while also allowing the beauty of the roses to bloom out of your life. Thanking Him for the thorns is so counter-cultural, is it not? Happy Thanksgiving, my friends!
Erica B.
His Song in the Night 
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