Abounding Grace

Larry: We'll give you something to hold on to in tough times, next on Abounding Grace.

You can be sure that tough times are on the calendar for each of us, even godly Christians. And at times, we may wonder why we're suffering or why God doesn't remove a painful trial from our lives. Today on Abounding Grace, we'll look at Paul's experience with the thorn in the flesh.

He was suffering with it for over 14 years and asked God repeatedly to remove it. The Lord chose not to for a very good reason. Pastor Ed Taylor says there's something here in this story for us to hold on to when we encounter difficult times. He's covering 2nd Corinthians chapter 12.

Pastor Ed Taylor: I love how the Message Bible puts it. The Message paraphrase. In this paraphrase in 1st Peter chapter 4, this is how he writes it: "Friends, when life gets really difficult, don't jump to the conclusion that God isn't on the job." Now, how we've memorized it is, "Don't think it strange concerning the fiery trial that's about to try you, as if some strange thing has come to you."

Okay, 2nd Corinthians chapter 12. With that in mind, we've just been in heaven with Paul. The heavenly vision, he feels awkward even having to share it. And he says now in verse 7: "Lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure." For 14 years and counting, Paul's lived with this thorn in his flesh. Why? So that he might be humbled before God and others.

14 years to the point of this writing. How do we know the time frame? Because he gives it to us earlier as he comes to visions and revelations. He says that he was caught up into the third heaven in verse 2, 14 years ago. So, from this revelation of heaven 14 years ago, at that same time, he was also given a thorn in the flesh around that time.

And he's had it now. Why? Well, because he needs in his life, God has determined that this is going to be a tool to humble him before God and others. Because of these spiritual revelations, it'd be very easy for him to be puffed up with pride, so that he would be exalted above measure.

And he saw it both as a tool of God and, this is interesting, also a messenger of Satan. And that's like, wow, he sees this thorn as a tool of God, but also a messenger of Satan. What a torn, difficult place to be between heaven and hell. Basically what he's saying. Yes, God's using it, humbling me so I don't become prideful above measure, but also, man, it's a message Satan messes me with over this thorn.

The word for thorn is another Greek word. This one I'm going to try. It's skollops. That makes it sound a lot worse, doesn't it? S-K-O-L-O-P-S. It literally means something pointed, sharp, and it refers to in the ancient Greek language as a tent stake or a point on a large hook. That's what was given to him.

So what was it? What was the thorn? Do you want to know what the Bible answer is? We don't know. It doesn't say. So if anyone ever comes to you and says, "I know what the thorn was," it doesn't say. He doesn't say it was given me a thorn and this is what it is. It just says he describes it as a sharp tent stake. You know, just like at the picture of one in the side or like in Judges, the tent stake through the head. Painful, problematic, persistent.

There are a few options if we look at the life of Paul, some things to consider, but we don't know for sure. The first one is a severe eye disease that he had in his eyes that would cause oozing pus to come out of his eyes every day. We know he had something wrong with his eyes because in Galatians chapter 6, he had somebody write, "Look what big letters I wrote the letter," because he probably couldn't see it.

Secondly, another option that some commentators have laid is the difficulty, this thorn is the difficulty of his enemies trying to destroy him. Thirdly, it could be physical pain of the aftermath of his trials, including stoning. I mean, we read that list of all the things he went through and we think he comes out like a superstar, you know, just so buffed up and he's Rocky and he looks so good and glistening in the sun while he's running up the stairs.

The brother is broken. And we already know that his body wasn't very big. He was like a short guy with crooked legs. It could be all the things that he went through after these trials in his life. The fourth thing that is suggested is that there's the pain of losing his family.

Because we never read of him, we never read of his wife or if he had any children. And you go, well, where does it say in the Bible that he was ever married? Well, the thing that we draw from that is that Paul was a part of the Sanhedrin. Part of the voting, remember he voted, he cast a vote against Stephen when he was stoned back in the book of Acts.

And because of that, that would put him in the ruling body of the Sanhedrin, and being in the Sanhedrin required you to be married. And then we never after his conversion, we never read of his family ever again. And some commentators have said perhaps that's it. But the Bible answer is, we don't know. Whatever it was, it was like a tent stake in his side that never went away.

We know that for sure. That he saw it both as a tool of God and a messenger of the devil. Verse 8: "Concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, most gladly I'd rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

So whatever it was, Paul's prayers were saturated with the desire and the request to have it taken away. Get it out of my life. And he mentions three specific times where he pleaded with God. The word "plead" refers to a desperation of begging, a point of desperation.

And who wouldn't ask God? Which one of us have gone through something that we wouldn't ask God, "Get me out of this"? I don't want to experience this. I wouldn't want this for my worst enemy, let alone me. Lord, deliver me, and help me, and rescue me, and get rid of this. Use a different tool. Get the devil off my back. I don't know what your prayers sound like, but I'm certain your prayers of desperation the Lord hears.

So who wouldn't? I mean, we know Romans 8:28, what does it say? God's working all things together. He causes everything to work together for the good, those that love God, those that are called according to His purpose. We know that. And yet at the same time, according to James, we also know that God uses trials in our lives to mature us, to make us somebody that we weren't.

They're tools, they're working in us and for us, not against us. James chapter 1, verse 2, it says, "Dear brothers and sisters, whatever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow. For when your endurance is fully developed, you'll be strong in character and ready for anything." And those of you going through a severe trial right now, you're like, "Can it come another way?" Sure it can, but for now it's coming this way.

This is the thorn. This is the skollops. The tent stake, the pointy, the sharp. We know that nothing's wasted by God through our trials, of course. In Romans chapter 5, verse 3, it says—and I'm reading from the New Living Translation, I like their perspective— "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us.

They help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation will not disappoint us, for we know how dearly God loves us because He's given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners." And still, like Paul and even our Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane: "If there's any other way, take this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will but Your will be done."

Of course we want things to be taken away. We agree with Paul. And what's the answer? Verse 9. The answer is: "Okay, Paul, the thorn is gone. You're released." No. The answer was: "Paul, you got to understand something. My grace is sufficient." Sufficient means it's enough. My grace is enough for you.

And this is why, because strength is being worked out in your weakness, Paul. Strength is being worked out in your weakness. Your human weakness allows strong spiritual strength. And like Paul, we ask for help from the Lord, and our gracious Heavenly Father answers with Himself. That's the answer. God, I'm asking You to remove, and God says, "I'm not removing. You are getting Me."

We ask for help and God gives us Himself. And the purpose of prayer is not that God might give help to us, but that He might give Himself to us. I love how Jon Courson puts it. He puts it this way, and I quote: "The Father says, 'You want Me to take away the pain, and to solve the problem, and to get you out of the situation, but that's not what you need.

You need Me. And the very problem you're seeking to get away from, the very situation you desire to get out of, is the very one that's causing you to talk to Me, spend time with Me, and depend upon Me. You'll be stronger when you're weak because you'll have no other choice than to draw strength from Me, and you'll do better when you're weak because you'll have to rely on Me.'"

And that's one of those things you read in a commentary and you're just like, you can't do it on your Bible, but you could rip the page out of the commentary. Just rip it out and go, "You're crazy. No. No, no, no, no, no. No, I'm going back to verse 8. I don't like verse 9. There's got to be another page in here somewhere, something here." And the Lord says, "Man, you want something more than Me?" And I have to say that at times I actually do want something more than Him.

There are times when I actually think I know better than God. There are times in my human way of thinking that my solution's better than God's. And I'm reminded of Paul where his answer was: "My grace is sufficient." That's the conclusion. And because of the sufficiency of grace, I have an opportunity now, he says in verse 9, to gladly boast in my weaknesses.

I want God's power, not man's honor. And when I'm weak, then I'm strong. God's strength, the Lord says to us, will be made perfect in your weakness. Think about this. Consider this. He says: "I'm going to boast in infirmities. In verse 10, I'm going to take pleasure in infirmities, and I'm going to take pleasure in reproaches, in needs, and persecutions, and distresses for Christ's sake, because when I'm weak, then I'm strong."

So he received from the answer, he's telling the Corinthians, "There, you're using all these things against me. They're trying to say that because I'm going through things that I'm not an apostle, or that it's not serious, or I'm not a real follower of Jesus, or somehow my problems," they sound all these guys you're listening to, church, they sound like Job's counselors, "But I want you to know that I did ask God about these things, and He answered me.

And He said, 'You get Me, Paul. That's what you get. That's your reward. You get Me. You don't need honor from men. You don't need people to even understand what you're going through because you get Me. You get Me. That's what you get.'"

And Paul's response is: "I get Him. Because I get Him, hey, whatever comes my way, whatever infirmity, reproach, need, persecution, anything that's for the sake of Jesus, I'm receiving and I'll just," he says in verse 10, "I'm taking pleasure." That's a work of the Spirit. That's not a man saying that. That's a man that has been regenerated and reborn and filled with the Spirit of God that says, "I'm taking pleasure in this."

It's powerful. It's a goal. It's the conformity of the work of Jesus in our lives that we might be, you might say, "Ed, I can't say that right now." It's okay, just rest in the sufficiency of the grace of God. You don't have to feel like you don't measure up. "Well, I'm not there yet." Well, Paul had a whole verse to get there too. Take your time. You'll get there.

This is a long 14 years. We read from verse to verse, and you're like, "Man, I don't know." Well, this is 14 years. At least for this situation, 14 years since the thorn has really shown up, and we don't know at what point he came to that conclusion. So don't beat yourself up. That's the last thing you need in trials and difficulties.

"Well, I'm not Paul." Well, you can be Paul in the sense that just receive the gracious sufficiency of Jesus. I know you're asking for help and I know God's very able to give you help, but until the help comes, He reminds us that He's given us Himself. And you'll recall when you were born again, that was enough then. Before you ever experienced anything, you were just like, "Man, Jesus, You're it. I can't believe You love me. You've forgiven me of my sin. You're going to give me a chance to live, a second chance in my life. You're going to erase the slate that was against me. You're going to receive me. We're going to be in relationship. That's it. That's everything. That's glorious."

Yes, it is. And by faith we can say, "Okay, when I'm weak," because the last part of that, "When I'm weak, then I'm strong," that's true. Whenever we feel strong, whenever we think we can handle it, whenever we come across something that "I can take care of that," we think we don't need help. When we think we're very capable, when we think, "Well, I've been here before and I've experienced this before," and we start to lean on our own understanding and we start to think, "Well, I'm ready," these are the areas that you're most apt to stumble or fall because you're trusting in yourself.

It's a paradox because from a young age we've been taught to be strong and stand up for yourself and have a voice, and that's all right in its context. But the voice that we really want is the voice of heaven. The voice that we really want is not our own so I can handle this. Be careful. You go, "Well, Ed, I just said that." Well, I'm warning you right now, be careful. Be careful that you think you can handle this. Really?

Because the way I read the Scriptures, when I'm weak, then I'm strong. It's not when I'm strong, I'm strong, or when I'm strong, I'm stronger. It's when I'm weak, the very thing I don't want to be when I come to a trial. The very thing that our own bodies seem, when the adrenaline rushes, the adrenaline rushes to make us prepared to face something.

And so our bodies even work against this truth, let alone our own logic. But Paul says and he's learned, "When I'm weak, then I'm strong." Why? Because Jesus said that. Strength is made perfect in weakness. And no matter how strong you are, if you're relying upon your own abilities and your own power and your own knowledge and your own capability to handle things, it doesn't matter how strong you are, one day you're going to come up against a situation that's bigger than you and you're not going to be able to handle it. That's coming.

And if you're that kind of person, self-confident and capable, when you come up against a thing where you're not able to handle it, you're devastated and destroyed. You're undone. You see, it's in the areas where you're weak, you know that you're weak, and you know you've got to trust in the Lord and you accept it.

In those areas, it's where His strength is made perfect in your weakness and you're able to stand. You're able to go through things that you never dreamed you would go through because you know that you can't go through it, so you're forced to rely upon the Lord. Listen to that. You can go through things as you recognize your weakness before God. You're able to go through things that you never dreamed or ever thought you would ever go through because you know that you can't go through it, so you're forced to rely upon the Lord.

That's a part of humanity. And it's when you're relying upon Jesus you receive His strength. What a difference between my strength and His strength. What a difference between my wisdom and His wisdom. I mean, for goodness sake, I can't even find a scripture when it's right in front of me. I tell you to turn there, you guys are all there, and I'm not even looking at it right.

It's just weakness. It's not because I don't have my Bible. I'll blame it on that from now on until I get it back, but that's not why. It's because I'm a weak man and that even when I'm looking for a verse, I'm one off. God wants me to realize how weak I am because the more I realize that, the more I depend upon Him.

Even if it is in front of hundreds and hundreds of people, and you guys are looking at like, "This dude doesn't know where he is. What's he reading?" And you're like, yeah, why? Because in the simplicity of something like that, you look at the little mistakes you make and just listen. The weaker you are, the more God'll reveal His strength in you. It's a bonus to really realize how weak you are. It's a bonus in life.

You walk down the stairs and you hear all those noises that aren't the wood. It just reminds you, you might even pray, "God, I need help in my body," because you hear it, it's about ready to fall apart. When's the last time you prayed for your achy knees? Your perishing body.

When's the last time you just really asked the Lord? Hey, my body's perishing. Some of you know it, I'm speaking to you. You just did it. You say, "Ed, this morning, amen, yeah, I prayed this morning, and I prayed not only for my perishing body but for the inward man to be renewed. I want to experience that, God. I know this body's going away. I know that my life is coming to an end. I know that everything that I'm trying to grasp at is just coming through my hands. This world's system is just ripping us off."

Larry: You're listening to Pastor Ed Taylor on Abounding Grace. His message: "Something to Hold on to in Tough Times". You can hear it again at aboundinggraceradio.com. Pastor Ed, I can't help but think someone listening right now can relate to the Apostle Paul's thorn in the flesh on some level. Maybe they've been praying about it for years and it just has not been removed, and they're really discouraged about it. I'll hand the mic over to you, so you can leave them with some encouragement as we close.

Pastor Ed Taylor: You know, Larry, lately I've had this thought that I've been sharing with people that maybe I'll develop it into a Bible study soon enough. But let me share it with everyone listening right now, especially in this circumstance. There are two types of seasons in life when it comes to this thorn in the flesh and trials and difficulties.

There are times we get to rejoice in, you know, when something's over and we get to rejoice and we got through something and we're happy, we're rejoicing with other people, we're rejoicing with those who are rejoicing. But then there are also times where we need to learn to endure and still rejoice. Just those times of hupomoné. That's the Greek word to endure and to press forward, like Paul would say to the Philippians, "This one thing I do." And the one thing was pressing on, not looking back, I'm pressing on.

And I was just sharing with a sister yesterday, and I was almost like sharing with myself because there's an ongoing thing in my life that's been happening since my son went into a coma and ended up passing away. Ongoing. And this thorn and it's so hard and it's so difficult and I wake up to it every morning.

But I also wake up to the Lord every morning, and I wake up to His faithfulness, and I wake up to His goodness. And here's what I shared with the sister, you ready? You can hurt and move forward at the same time. You can hurt and move forward at the same time. You can serve the Lord in great ways with the thorn. There are times to endure, there's times to rejoice, but move forward, friend. Let's do it together. We're just going to move forward, limping along, but the Lord is so good and our life has meaning even though we're hurting. And I'm sorry that you're waking up every morning with something too, but aren't we all to some degree? And the Lord's faithful to us all.

Larry: Thank you for those words of encouragement, Pastor Ed. You know, the new year is a great time to kickstart or breathe new life into your devotional life, and we've got a book that can help. It's titled Jesus Every Day from Jim Cymbala. Each day brings its own set of challenges and events that can at times leave us dazed and confused.

But in Christ, we can find the grace, strength, and peace to face those days with hope. Living by God's unshakable promises will challenge you to consider what your life might look like with Jesus every day. We'll send you a copy with our thanks for a gift of $25 or more to Abounding Grace. Call 877-30-GRACE or visit our e-store at calvaryco.store. Let's finish up the message now with Pastor Ed.

Pastor Ed Taylor: What do you want? Your strength or His? Your wisdom or His? Your knowledge or His? Your ability or His? I hope so, I do. I know I'm not perfect in that area, but I want to be perfected. And how good it is, church, when I've learned to trust in the Lord and to draw for Him His strength.

Just like Paul said in another letter to another church: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." How does Christ strengthen us? Through human weakness. So remember that next time. "I memorize, that's my memory verse, I learned it as a kid, I could do all things through Christ that strengthens me." And how does He strengthen? How is His strength made perfect? Weakness. Remember that. It's not made the other way around. No, no, no, it's simple abiding trust in the Lord.

Larry: "The more I love, the less I'm loved." Can you relate to that expression? We'll hear of someone who can next time on Abounding Grace as Pastor Ed returns to 2nd Corinthians. Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church Colorado here in Aurora.