Gluten Free & God Seeking: Why Didn't the Lord Remove Paul's Thorn in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9?

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Why Didn't the Lord Remove Paul's Thorn in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9?

Here’s my favorite definition of grace: "Grace is the Triune God doing everything, being everything, and giving everything to us in the way of enjoyment." This must be the grace God wanted Paul to know in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9:

"...there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan,...Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness...."

During the last two weeks I heard two different messages on grace, and then a few days ago I read the Life-Study that covers 2 Corinthians 12 about Paul's thorn. The first message I heard was from a conference that was posted online. What helped me was hearing that it's up to God if the thorn will be removed or not. The big question is if He doesn't remove it, then what will we do? Will this harden our heart, or will this cause us to pray, Lord, I need Your grace today. I've heard this message a few times, and I would like to share the link to it because it was so good: Message 4 – Experiencing and Enjoying the Processed and Consummated Triune God as Grace for the Building Up of the Body of Christ

Then I heard a message through our webcast subscription on Living Stream Ministry’s website. Guess what? It was on the same subject! This brother spoke on Paul's asking the Lord three times to remove the thorn. Here's a part that spoke volumes to me:

... He wasn’t a hero, he prayed for the thorn to be removed, no answer. He prayed again for the thorn to be removed, silence. And according to the principle of praying three times, he prayed again and then the answer came, "My grace is sufficient for you"-- that’s the discovery, "for you." ...The pain is too piercing, this is beyond what you can bear as a human, your only recourse is to contact God, and He’s silent. But eventually He breaks the silence and says, "My grace is sufficient for you."

And here's the excerpt from the Life Study of 2 Corinthians Chapter 55, page 488 on this verse that soothed my aching heart:

“Sufferings and trials are often the Lord’s ordination for us, that we may experience Christ as grace and power. For this reason, the Lord would not remove the thorn from the apostle as he entreated...The Lord answered Paul’s prayer, but not according to Paul’s way....The Lord seemed to say, '…Paul, My grace is sufficient for you. Don’t ask Me to take away the thorn….
But I shall grace you and support you so that you may be able to bear this suffering. Also, in your experience, My grace will become power made perfect in weakness. The thorn exposes your weakness. Without it, you would not realize how weak you are. Now you need Me to be your grace. In your experience, My grace will become power tabernacling over you’” (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of 2 Corinthians. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1982, Print).