The expression “a thorn in the flesh” is known to nearly every man and woman to signify some kind of irritant, often identified as some person who is the source of irritation. If the Apostle Paul, who put the expression in Holy Scripture (2 Cor. 12:7), did not say what his thorn was. It could hardly be said that he was happy about having it, as he earnestly prayed to the Lord three times to remove it.
In his own words, he likened the thorn to a messenger of Satan which buffeted him, something obviously which was with him constantly to weaken him and bring him down in body and mind. In this Paul is not alone.
Most people have something associated with them which could well be called a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet them. No doubt, like the Apostle Paul, those so afflicted have often prayed that the thorn might be removed, but the heavens have seemed like brass and no deliverance has come. Has God not heard? Does He not care? Is He not able to take the thorn away?
The writer of the following words seems to understand the situation. “It is one of the great secrets of life to make friends of our infirmities. If we fight them, they are very masterful. If we accept them, they have a strange way of leading us to surprises of compensation which the Lord has hid in His marvelous mines. I wonder how much of the later and richer revelations in the letters of the Apostle Paul might be traced to the acceptance of the thorn and to making friends with his sore infirmity. As it is with infirmity, so it is with all forms of commonplace suffering. If we fight our sorrows, they add a cubit to their stature. Our antagonism feeds them.”
Surely the proper Christian outlook is to be found in 2 Corinthians 12:9. After Paul prayed three times for the removal of the thorn in his flesh, the answer came to him: “My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
What a lovely answer that was! What Christian would not gladly carry on bearing about in the body some depressing weakness, all the while knowing that there was daily grace to do so and sufficient strength from God to help. Did Paul find it so? Here are his own words recorded in 2 Corinthians 12:9–“Most gladly, therefore, will I glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Consider in this connection the blessing pronounced by Moses on the tribe of Asher long ago: “Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be” (Deut. 33:25). Shoes for the road, strength for the way, grace for the trial. It should always be remembered that anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its troubles, but it will rob today of its strength.
Coupled with this, the words of Matthew Henry have great force: “Let us not pull that upon ourselves all at once which Providence has wisely ordered to be borne in parcels.” Let us be content. If God who is all wise has left a thorn in the flesh with us, He has also promised, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”