Jump Start # 331

2 Corinthians 12:7 “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself.”

  It is easy to see from this passage that God hates pride. Twice in this verse Paul says, “to keep me from exalting myself.” God didn’t want that to happen. Paul describes a man, most likely himself, who was taken to “the third Heaven” (v. 2), “Paradise” (v. 4). Paul doesn’t know if this was a divine vision or if he actually went. He doesn’t know. He heard things which he was not allowed to repeat. Because of all of this he was given a thorn in the flesh, to keep him from exalting himself.

  There are many things here. First, the third Heaven. The Jews believed in three heavens. The first heaven is what we would call the sky. The second heaven would be the solar system, where the stars and planets are. The third Heaven, where Paul went, was the home of God. Paul wants them to understand that he wasn’t in the sky, he wasn’t in outer space, rather, he went to Heaven. He doesn’t understand how he got there. It is beyond us to guess.

  While there, Paul heard “inexpressible words which a man is not permitted to repeat.” Paul doesn’t tell us. He doesn’t reveal what it looked like, nor how he felt. John in the book of Revelation, is shown an open door in Heaven and he tells us what he saw. There are far too many books on the market today about people who have died and came back and they detail the songs that were being sung in Heaven and they tell of seeing departed family members, seeing angels and just a list of things as if they were describing for us a vacation they took. It’s amazing that an inspired apostle was not allowed to tell what he heard or saw but anyone else can, and on top of that, they can profit from it by selling books. Does that seem a bit odd to you? It sure does to me.

  Anyone who experienced what Paul did would tend to think just a bit too much of themselves. It would be easy to think that God favors that person more than others. Peter never went to the third Heaven. John didn’t. Andrew didn’t. Only Paul. He must have been the best apostle. He must have been God’s favorite. Folks need to listen to him, because of where he has been. Those kind of thoughts will get a person in trouble and it messes things up. It’s hard to remain humble when you are bragging about yourself. So God took care of that. He allowed a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to be given to Paul. Now what was that? Ideas abound. Some say poor eyesight. Others, some form of crippling disease. Some list different temptations. Paul doesn’t tell us. Guessing is only guessing. The end of this section talks about insults, persecutions, and difficulties. Those may have been the thorns. It was so troublesome that Paul prayed three times that God would remove it. He didn’t. He wanted it there.

   God will sometimes answer our prayers NO. No, is an answer. Paul prayed three times. God said no. Now if you and I did that, we’d start to think that something was wrong with our faith or that God was mad at us or that we had a bad connection in our prayer somehow. Paul didn’t. He understood. God’s grace was all that he needed.

  Sometimes those thorns in our lives hurt and are painful. We want them out and gone. They remain. We pray and they remain. We get weary, discouraged and feel that things are just not right. Those thorns may be there to keep us from going to a place that God does not want. Like Paul, they may be there to keep us from exalting ourselves. They may keep us humble and dependant upon the Lord.

  Our Lord had thorns. They were fashioned like a crown and placed upon His head. A reed was used to beat them further into His scalp. Blood would have poured from those head wounds. It would have been painful. It would have been an ugly mess.

  Thorns…Paul had them. Jesus had them. Do you? Maybe they are there for a reason. Maybe there are there to teach you. Maybe they are there to keep you from going to a place you do not need to be—mentally or spiritually.

  Paul didn’t quit because of thorns. Neither should we. Pray about them. See if you can learn some lessons from them and then keep on doing what God wants. That’s the key!

Roger