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… I. THE TEMPTATION OF PAUL. 1. This was probably some physical infirmity, and if it did not obstruct him in his ministerial labours, it rendered them difficult and distressing. He was like a workman whose hand was smarting from a festering wound, or like a traveller with a foot lacerated and lamed. And his affliction was aggravated by the advantage Satan took of it. The Lord put in the thorn, and for gracious purposes; but Satan endeavoured to defeat those purposes by turning the thorn into a temptation. And so Satan may make our afflictions as well as our blessings snares to us or poisons, instead of medicines and blessings. And the apostle represents it as striking and bruising him, and thus felt disgraced. 2. And how many of us can feelingly place ourselves in St. Paul's situation! We have had thorns in our flesh, shameful marks which the world has seen. Sometimes we are ready to say when suffering under any of these, "Were we really the servants of Christ, it would not be thus with us," and a scoffing world may say the same; but here is one of the most beloved, honoured, of all the Lord's servants in the same situation as we. And the Bible and Church history show that it has been the lot of the holiest men. II. ITS DESIGN. "Lest I should be exalted." These words show us — 1. That the Lord foresees any spiritual danger that is coming on us. 2. That the Lord often graciously guards against the danger He foresees. He sends us affliction sometimes, not to chasten us for having fallen into sin, or to recover us out of it, but to keep us out of it. 3. That the Lord sometimes keeps off evil from us by Satan's efforts to bring us into evil; He overrules temptation by temptation. We shall never know how much we are indebted to Satan till we are safe in heaven, and look back there on all the perilous way which has led us to it. 4. How offensive sin is in the sight of God! He will afflict the servant He loves, rather than allow him to fall into it. 5. What a load of suffering the mere tendency to pride within our souls may bring on us! 6. What danger we are all in of yielding to this hateful and tormenting sin. III. PAUL'S CONDUCT UNDER IT (ver. 8). One end why the Lord sends us temptation is to quicken us to prayer. When all is smooth the spirit of prayer too often declines. Here, too, is a practical carrying out of the truth on which this apostle is so often dwelling — the ability and willingness of Christ to sympathise with us when suffering and to help us. IV. THE RESULT. 1. A virtual denial of his request. Twice he prays — no answer comes. Here then was a deathblow to all Paul's hopes of relief. It was like telling him that he must carry his thorn down to the grave. But this is the way in which the Lord often answers His praying people. We know not what to pray for as we ought. We give way to sense and feeling. But though we may not know what to ask, the Lord well knows what to give. Hence He sifts our prayers before He answers them, sees whether they correspond with our necessities and His purposes. Instead of giving us relief He gives us strength; He leaves the burden on us heavy as ever, but He places His everlasting arm underneath us, and causes it so to bear us up, that we hardly feel our burden. 2. A complete change in the view he took of his affliction. Before he regarded it as an evil to be, if possible, got rid of; but now, observe, he has learnt to "glory" in it and "take pleasure" in it. "My infirmities bring glory to Christ, then let me keep them." (C. Bradley, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. |
    |