What do we do when we enter a time when we don’t feel blessed? How do we cope when we face deep struggles in life? After all, the life of faith isn’t an endless climb up the blessed ladder. Believing in Jesus won’t necessarily set us on a path where all of life is easy and calm. In fact, we just might experience the opposite.
The Apostle Paul, for example, describes how, amidst third heaven revelations, missionary journeys, and the preaching to thousands, he received a thorn in the flesh.
This thorn was given “to keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassing revelations” (2 Corinthians 12). Paul, the very one to whom the gospel would spread to the gentiles, was not kept from the difficult things of life. And neither are we.
We don’t know what Paul’s thorn was; it remains gloriously undefined. Still, Paul’s thorn in his flesh became the very place where he learned reliance upon the all-surpassing grace of the Savior. And so can we.
Whether we see the thorns in our flesh as divinely appointed or simply flukes without rhyme or reason, the simple fact of life is they occur. We all struggle with weakness and frailty. So, if you find yourself struggling with a thorn in the flesh, here are three things to consider.
1. Pray about It
Paul’s first response to the thorn in his flesh was to pray about it. Paul writes, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me” (2 Corinthians 12:8). Paul’s prayers are filled with emotion.
Paul didn’t offer some highly spiritualized prayer, steeped in the rhetoric of humble acceptance and tranquil resolve. Instead, he pleaded with his Savior.
Paul begged that the thorn be removed from his life. More than that, he pleaded with the Lord again, and again, and again. In faith, Paul dared to bring his situation to the Lord.
This is a good lesson for us. The thorns we experience ought to drive us to the Lord in prayer. We need not mask our difficulties or our struggles.
Furthermore, it’s okay to ask that the thorns in your life be removed. It is okay to beg, to plead, to yell, or to cry for the miraculous removal of whatever hardship you endure.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that things will be resolved instantaneously; it certainly wasn’t for Paul. Yet the persistence of the thorn in his flesh didn’t discount the appropriateness of his prayers.
Sadly, some Christians are strong in boasting but weak in grace. They say things like, “if our struggles persist, then we just aren’t praying enough,” or “this is because of unconfessed sin in your life.”
Such a belief is simply wrong, and it goes against the testimony of Scripture. Sometimes the thorns we experience just occur, and despite our prayers, they remain.
Do you have a thorn in your flesh? Is there something in your life that seems to frustrate or torment you? What might it look like for you to bring the matter to Jesus? Be bold and bring the matter to the Savior.
2. Focus on Grace
The Lord’s response to Paul’s pleading includes both a negative and a positive element. Negatively, Paul hears a resounding “no” to his prayer. No, his thorn would not be taken away. It would remain. This response from the Lord can be hard to understand and hard to accept.
Yet Jesus doesn’t simply give Paul a negative answer. The word of Jesus is never just a denial of our request. Paul hears the promise of Jesus’ unyielding grace.
This is the heart of Jesus’ response to Paul’s thorn. Jesus says, “My grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Eugene Peterson renders the verse in this way: “My Grace is enough; it is all you need; My strength comes into its own in your weakness.” Christ’s response to Paul’s thorn was not an outright rejection of his prayer; he responds with grace.
Grace is the active and personal presence of Jesus. Grace is the bestowal of Christ’s favor and love. Grace sustains us and gives us the ability to face all that life throws at us. This is the reality that enfolds us in our times of struggle.
As we wrestle with the thorns in our flesh, Jesus presents us with his very self. Jesus comes to us. In the very place from which we cry, in the place of our hurt or toil, Jesus shines with mercy and love.
It is this bestowal of grace that we must focus on. Instead of concentrating on the hardship before us or the thorn within us, we must cast our hearts and soul upon the mercy of Jesus. Grace defines our days more than thorns ever will.
3. Boast in the Lord
It is in the place of our weakness where the power of Christ is fully displayed. This, then, changes our relationship with the struggles we experience.
We can recognize our plights as the very place where Christ’s love and mercy shine. In short, the place of our weakness is the place where Jesus is revealed.
The 17th-century priest and poet John Donne recognized this as he struggled with his own incurable sickness. As his body became riddled with spots, Donne began to see the presence of Jesus within his frailty.
In one meditation, he wrote, “Even my spots belong to thy Son’s body and are part of that which he came down to this earth to fetch, and challenge, and assume to himself” (Devotions upon Emergent Occasions and Death’s Duel).
For Donne, the very spots of his flesh testified to Jesus’ power; they declared that his life was held in the loving hands of his Savior.
This is why Paul writes that he will “boast even more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me (2 Corinthians 12:9). Boasting about our weaknesses is not the same as focusing on ourselves or glorying in our misfortunes.
Paul isn’t putting forward some sanctified version of the humble brag. Boasting about our weaknesses highlights Christ’s grace in our lives. Jesus is the focus, the one to whom we give all glory. “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord,” writes Paul (2 Corinthians 10:17).
The weak places of our lives, therefore, are the thin places where we witness Christ’s magnificent power.
All of us have places where we struggle. We all have thorns of one type or another. The thorn in our flesh is not the place where we are abandoned but the location where God’s power is on display.
The great saints of the church are never those who progress to the point of not needing God’s grace, nor are God’s blessing reserved for those who need not God’s hand or aid.
The life of faith is the call to rely on Christ, to live deeply in the constancy of God’s grace, and the reality of Christ’s love.
So, if you are struggling with a thorn in your flesh, fret not. You are not discarded. You are not alone. The Lord is with you, and his loving grace sustains you.
For further reading:
What Is a 'Thorn in the Flesh'?
How Can I Be Faithful When I’m Struggling?
What Does God Mean by ‘My Grace Is Sufficient for You’?
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Olga Shefer
