A Thorn In The Flesh

To keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me.   2 Corinthians 12:7

There has been a lot of speculation about Paul’s thorn in the flesh. Suggestions include malaria, depression, epilepsy, an unusual temptation, or blindness. The truth is that we don’t know what it was.

Since Paul connects the thorn with the remarkable revelation he had received before writing this letter (see 2 Corinthians 12:2), we can assume he’d been suffering from this affliction for fourteen years. We can also be confident it was a serious affliction.

Paul was no stranger to suffering. Five times, he’d endured thirty-nine lashes; three times, he’d been beaten with rods; and he’d been stoned once (see 2 Corinthians 11:24-25). Receiving thirty-nine lashes would be enough to make some folks quit the ministry, but not Paul. He was a man of extraordinary courage, and he wouldn’t have made a big deal of the thorn if it were only a minor irritation.

If you had a thorn in your flesh, you’d be aware of it every time you moved. You wouldn’t be able to do anything without wincing as the thorn buried itself deeper into your flesh. Perhaps that’s a picture of a painful issue in your life. You can’t escape it. Whatever you do, you’re aware of it, and it’s been like that for years.

Paul faced this situation with prayer. When something is troubling us, prayer is always the right thing to do. No doubt Paul prayed with great intensity. “I begged the Lord,” he wrote (2 Corinthians 12:8).

There was every reason to expect God would answer Paul’s prayer request positively. Paul describes the thorn as “a messenger from Satan” (2 Corinthians 12:7). If Satan was involved, wouldn’t God bind the enemy and deliver Paul? But apparently it’s not as simple as that, because Paul also tells us the thorn was “given” to him, and clearly he means it was given by God!

Satan caused great suffering and loss in Job’s life too, but behind the devil’s activity was the sovereign hand of God, who used this suffering to lead Job into a new understanding of his Creator and Redeemer. It may be Satan’s intention to harm you, but God can use it for good.

For further reading, see 2 Corinthians 11