The Thorn in the Flesh

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2 Corinthians 12:7-11

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh…

Many desire to gaze on the secret lives of eminent personages. For once we are able to gratify curiosity, and yet minister to edification. We are plainly taught how mistaken we are when we set eminent saints upon a platform by themselves, as though they were a class of superhuman beings. Paul enjoyed more revelations than we have, but then he had a corresponding thorn in the flesh. He was a good man, but he was only a man. Note —

I. A DANGER to which the apostle was exposed .... "Lest I should be exalted above measure."

1. It was natural that he should stand in danger of this. When God lifts us up we may lift up ourselves, and then we fall into serious mischief. How many among us could bear to receive such revelations as Paul had? Now, if Paul was in this danger, so holy, humble, wise, and experienced; if so massive a pillar trembles, what peril surrounds poor reeds shaken of the wind! Observe that in Paul's case the temptation was not one which operates in the common, coarse way. It was that he should say within his own soul, "I have seen as others have not. I am the favourite of heaven."

2. Now, although in Paul's particular form of it, this temptation may not be common, yet in some shape it waylays the best of Christians.

(1) Every man loves the commendation of his fellow-men. It is vain for us to boast of not caring about it; we do care about it, and our duty is to keep that propensity in check.

(2) There are some men in whom self-consciousness is so strong, that it will come up in the form of being very easily annoyed because they are overlooked, or in being easily irritated because they fancy that somebody is opposing them.

(3) Others who, because they have more real spiritual knowledge, and a deeper inward experience when they hear the prattle of young beginners, or the blunders of saints, cannot help saying to themselves, "Thank God, I do know better than that." They have probably also been successful in sacred work, a legitimate source of rejoicing, but a temptation to boastfulness. Among the flowers of gratitude will grow the hemlock of pride.

3. None of the things we have spoken of are justifiable grounds for boasting. What if a believer should have received more Divine illuminations than his fellow? Did not the Lord give them to him? There are two beggars in the street; I give one a shilling and the other a penny; shall the man who obtains the shilling be proud, and glory over his companion? Generally the loudest boasting is excited by accidental circumstances.

4. It is dangerous for a Christian to be exalted above measure, for if he be —

(1) He will rob God of His glory, and this is a high crime and misdemeanour.

(2) It is equally evil to the Church. Had Paul been lifted up he would have become the leader of a sect; the rival rather than the servant of Jesus.

(3) It would have been bad for ungodly sinners, for proud preachers win not men's hearts. He who is exalted in himself will never exalt the Saviour.

(4) It would have been worst of all for the apostle himself, for pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

II. THE PREVENTATIVE.

1. Note every word here.

(1) "There was given to me." He reckoned his great trial to be a gift. You have not one single article that is a better token of Divine love to you than your daily cross.

(2) "A thorn." A thorn is —

(a)  But a little thing, and indicates a painful but not a killing trial.

(b)  Yet it is almost a secret thing, not very apparent to any one but the sufferer.

(c)  A commonplace thing, such as might grow in any field and fall to any man's lot — nothing to make a man remarkable.

(d)  One of the most wretched intruders that can molest our foot or hand. Those pains which are despised because they are seldom fatal, are frequently the source of the most intense anguish — toothache, headache, earache, what greater miseries are known to mortals?

(3) "In the flesh." The evil had an intimate connection with his body. Each expositor seems to have selected that particular thorn which had pierced his own bosom. The apostle did not tell us what it was, perhaps that we may every one feel that he had sympathy with us — that ours is no new grief.

(4) "The messenger of Satan." Not Satan, but one of Satan's errand boys. An encounter with Satan might not have humbled him. It is a grand thing to fight Satan face to face and foot to foot; but to be beset by a mere lackey of hell, to be tormented by so mean an adversary, this was galling to the last degree, and therefore all the better for the purpose for which it was sent.

(5) To buffet, i.e., to cuff him. Not to fight with him with the sword; that is manly, soldierly work; but to buffet him as pedagogues box the ears of boys.

2. This preventative was well adapted to work out its design, for assuredly it would recall the apostle from ecstacies. He said once, "Whether in the body, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell"; but the thorn in the flesh settled that question. He had dreamed, perhaps, that he was growing very angelic, but now he feels intensely human. This made him feel that he was —

(1) A weak man, for he had to do battle with base temptations that seemed not worth fighting with.

(2) A man in danger, and needed to fly to God for refuge.

3. From all this I gather —

(1) That the worst trial may be the best possession; that the messenger of Satan may be as good as a guardian angel.

(2) That the worst and deepest experience may only be the needful complement of the highest and the noblest; it may be necessary that if we are lifted up we should be cast down.

(3) That we must never envy other saints. If we meet with a brother whom God blesses, let us not conclude that his pathway is all smooth. His roses have their thorns, his bees their stings.

III. THE IMMEDIATE EFFECT OF THIS THORN UPON PAUL.

1. It drove him to his knees. Anything is a blessing which makes us pray.

2. In this way Paul was kept from being proud. The revelation now seemed forgotten. A man does not want to tell pretty stories when sharp pains are goading him.

3. Paul continued to pray, till at last he received for an answer, not the removal of the thorn, but the assurance, "My grace is sufficient for thee." God will always honour our prayers, and sometimes it is a golden answer to deny us our request, and give us the very opposite of what we seek.

4. The result was that the grace given him enabled him to bear the thorn, and to glory that he was permitted so to suffer. Wish not to change your estate. Your heavenly Father knoweth best.

IV. THE PERMANENT RESULT.

1. It kept him humble always. Fourteen years rolled away, and the apostle never told anybody that he had been caught up into the third heaven. When he did tell it, it was dragged out of him.

2. It is no small matter when God sends a thorn in the flesh and it answers its end, for in some cases it does not. We have known some whom poverty has made envious, whom sickness has rendered petulant, whom personal infirmity has rendered rebellious against God. Let us labour against this, and if God has been pleased to put a fetter upon us in any shape, let us ask Him not to allow us to make this the occasion for fresh folly, but, on the contrary, to bear the rod and learn its lessons.Conclusion:

1. What a happy people God's people ought to be, when a curse becomes to them a blessing! If the thorn be a blessing, what must the blessing itself be?

2. What a sad thing it must be not to be a believer in Christ, because thorns we shall have if we are not in Christ, but those thorns will not be blessings to us. I understand drinking bitter medicine, if it is to make me well; but who would drink wormwood and gall with no good result to follow?

3. Remember that he who sent Paul thorns for his good once wore a thorn-crown Himself for the salvation of sinners; and if you will trust Him you shall be saved from the thorn of unforgiven sin, the fear of the wrath to come.

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