Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:6-10 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Devotion: Earlier this week, we looked at the prayer of Hannah. She longed to have a child and after years of prayer, God blessed her with a son. It was a beautiful answer to the cry of heart. But sometimes, that isn’t how things work out. Perhaps you are familiar with this. You prayed for something or someone for years and years just to have what seemed like an unanswered prayer.
The apostle Paul experienced this. He says that the Lord gave him a thorn in his flesh to keep him from becoming conceited. We know that this was not a literal thorn, but we also don’t know what Paul was specifically referring to. It could have been a physical, spiritual, or emotional affliction. All we know is that it caused him deep pain and that he asked the Lord three times to remove it from him.
But rather than remove it, God was more concerned with Paul’s character and preventing pride within him. Instead of removing the problem, God gave even more grace and strength to compensate for it. Therefore, Paul was able to delight in his weaknesses because God’s power is made perfect in our weaknesses.
Perhaps that is why we do not know exactly what Paul’s thorn was. In writing metaphorically about it, God can use Paul’s words and his struggle to apply to any difficulty that we face now. Whether what you are going through is physical, spiritual, or emotional, know that God sees you and hears you. And even when you are still waiting on an answer to your prayers or God has answered, “No,” we can know that God’s grace is all-sufficient, and He is glorified in every situation.
Reflect:
- Is there anything that you are awaiting an answer to pray on?
- What might God be teaching you in the midst of the waiting?