This post might become somewhat
serious; it is so for me. One of my more-than-several medical persons
remarked after our discussion about managing one of my
more-than-several physical unfixable infirmities, “Well,
that's your cross to bear.”
I wasn't sure that he was right, so I
began to research the matter more thoroughly in Scripture. In brief,
without any private interpretation, I examined just the facts from
the text and context and concluded that there is a difference between
our CROSS and a THORN. To be accurate, I think that my medical person should have referred to my malady as "a thorn in the flesh." It was not, strictly speaking, "my cross." The
Scriptures speak clearly about both.
Each
has a God-aspect. Some people incorrectly use the word cross for any
misfortune or trouble, as when “bearing one's cross” means to
suck it up and put up with something
patiently. However, apparently a cross is something a normal
Christian disciple is to “take up daily” as a follower of Christ.
(Mark 8:34) Trouble and suffering for the body may
follow as a consequence of our witness for
Him. A cross is not something we should plead for God to take away
from us. On the contrary, carrying a cross carries with it the joy
and privilege of being united to Christ. (Matthew 16:24, 25) Carrying
a cross is a qualification of discipleship requiring denying oneself
even to the loss of life for His sake while confessing Jesus before
men. (Matthew 10:33, 38) Jesus declared that if we don't take up our
cross we are not worthy of Him. A cross is not optional for a
follower of Christ. A hard saying, but in fact, Jesus said that if we
don't carry our own cross, we can't be His disciple. (Luke 14:27) It
would seem then that a cross is not a physical infirmity or some
disorder of the body.
What is a thorn in the flesh then? In Scripture it
is something that is given not
something we should take up.
It is described in detail in 2 Corinthians chapter twelve. When we
examine the apostle Paul's case, he tells us explicitly why a thorn
in the flesh was given him, who gave it, what Paul prayed for, how God answered,
and the outcome. I researched the topic in every translation I could
find and from every angle to squeeze the meaning from every
word. I didn't want to get this wrong. I have compiled the results with the variations in the words
without any deviation from the text.
Who gave Paul the thorn in the flesh?
He called it “a messenger of Satan” in the beginning. Doubtless
Satan wanted to dissuade and dismay and cause the apostle to doubt
the dealings of God. He took advantage of what God was permitting for
a special purpose. But then Paul recognized that the thorn was coming
from God. Why did God give him the thorn? He had favored Paul with
incredible private spiritual experiences, “surpassing great
revelations” beyond which other men ever had. He had grounds for
boasting. In the natural, he could have felt proud. In the first six
verses of this chapter he alluded to his marvelous experience while
caught up into the third heaven. However, it was not allowed by God
to “glory in” such things or to talk about them.
We know Paul was speaking
about himself not someone else when referring to that experience
because he changed to the “me” pronoun. He obviously waited
fourteen years even to mention it. God wanted to make sure that he
wouldn't boast and “let the cat out of the bag” so He went to
great lengths not to humiliate Paul but to keep him humble. Paul
obviously recognized that it was “to keep me from becoming
conceited or exalting myself” or letting other people exalt him
because of what he had experienced.
The thorn was obviously
some serious physical infirmity (probably more than an allergy
attack!) about which he anguished and wanted to be rid of. He was no
sissy. Note the list in chapter eleven of all the incredible
hardships he went through for the sake of the gospel. The thorn
couldn't have been a cross because this chiefest of the apostles
wouldn't have pleaded to have it taken away. He wanted healing from
something “in his flesh” that was tormenting him and buffeting
him. Other translations say blow after blow, a prick of my flesh,
like a continuous slap of his face, beating him, harassing him, using
one's fist, pounding away at me, a handicap, a weakness, a splinter,
a stake in my flesh, some physical malady that persisted, that was
chronic. Paul wanted to be healed. He prayed to have the thorn
removed from him completely, “depart from him.”
What was the nature of Paul's
thorn? Bible scholars differ and speculate, but agree that it must
have been something physical that was painful and had to do with his
body. It was definitely a big "ouch!" Was it something that had to do with his eyes, something
residual from his three days of blindness at his conversion? Did it
cause him to write in certain letters that he was signing that
particular one “with my own hand,” as if that was not his usual
manner? “But you know that it was because of a bodily illness that
I preached the gospel to you the first time; and that which was a
trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe,
but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself”
(Galatians 4:13,14). He adds, “...that if possible you would have
plucked out your eyes and given them to me.” Whatever it was, it
was also a trial to the people to whom he preached. Was it cataracts
or Macular degeneration? Or was his hand shaking as in a Parkinson's
tremor so that he, a highly educated and literate man, could not
write his own letters but had to depend upon others? It was something
bad enough to cause him suffering when he ministered in the churches;
on another occasion it was noted that his speech was contemptible. We
simply aren't told.
Paul did pray, that was
commendable, and God didn't fault him for asking for healing. Jesus
Himself prayed three times with sweat like great drops of blood in
the Garden prior to His trial asking if this cup could pass from Him
and that He could be spared the cross that was ahead of Him. He also
“pleaded with God” and received a negative answer. Jesus'
response was in surrender that God's will be done. Paul too persisted
pleading “three times,” not just quick prayers, obviously over a
period of time. The first two times God must have been silent until
after the third entreaty. Then God spoke. [Paraphrased] “The answer
is no, Paul. I'm not taking your bodily illness away. I am permitting
it for a purpose. My grace is enough for you to bear it. When you are
weak, then I can show Myself most effective to work through you. Your
sense of your own weakness fits you to receive My divine strength.”
Paul, we've been a fly on
the wall while you've been learning this painful lesson that has so
much to do with our own personal thorns in the flesh. We each have
our own thorns. And God doesn't fault us for asking to be healed.
Thank you for sharing this teaching moment with us. If we may ask,
when did you really “get it?” You didn't tell us whether it was
still a struggle to adjust to a “no” answer from God who so
highly favored you with those supernatural revelations, or whether
your turn-around acceptance was instantaneous. Your thorn kept
hurting, didn't it? Everything was still worst case scenario. There
was no relief or light at the end of the tunnel. You would have to
live with the thorn until God took you Home. Whenever it was that you
“got it” your spiritual eyes finally “saw” what God was
after.
That's when you declared
to all of us who “have ears to hear”: “Therefore, I will all
the more gladly glory in, boast, delight, take pleasure in my
weaknesses and infirmities, insults, hardships, persecutions,
perplexities and distresses; for when I am weak in my human strength,
then am I truly strong—able, powerful in Your divine strength.”
[Amplified Version]
You didn't tell us
specifically what your thorn was, Paul. Was that deliberate? We know
you had a human body just like ours that can hurt with innumerable
things that can get out of order inside of our bodies or in our
outward appearance, especially as we age, as you did too. So this
allows us to identify with you—our own thorn can be anything
that is
common to humankind or unique to ourselves. The purpose for the
thorn, however, is probably the same—that we might remain humble
and not think too highly of ourselves and boast of our spiritual
experiences. And we can be sure that God will answer us in the same
way.
The Message
translation of verse 7 puts a down to earth spin on what we were
meant to learn:
“Because
of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big
head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch
with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what
he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking
around high and mighty!”
