Thorn in the Flesh
“Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so I would not exalt myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away from me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” ~ 2 Corinthians 12:7-9
The passage above describes a "messenger of Satan" that the Apostle Paul was dealing with. Most Bible scholars understand this to be a physical ailment – but, could it not as easily been a pesky sin that would occasionally rear its ugly head? As a born-again believer, I believe that we all have experienced those times when we are on a peak of our walk with Christ, when all of a sudden, BAM! the “messenger of Satan” – that pesky sin that we can’t seem to shake off no matter how much we plead with the Lord to remove it – rears its ugly head – and there we are: feeling weak, ashamed, defeated and downright unworthy of being called a child of God.
I believe that the Holy Spirit prevented Paul from telling us what his “thorn in the flesh” to be because the Lord knows full well that all of His followers will experience a thorn in our flesh as long as we are alive in this fallen world; whether it be a physical ailment, other certain person(s) or types of persons, sin, etc.
The Good News is that the Lord’s grace is sufficient for all that we are going through – we just need to ask and receive it.
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