Grace is Enough

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

GRACE IS ENOUGH

2 Cor 12:7-10

7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 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. 10 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.

NIV

Let us be clear about one thing. There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever to determine what Paul meant regarding this thorn in his flesh. With all the commentaries that are available and the hoard of scholars, not one has anything to base their opinion on, and in fact, they have such a wide variety of opinions it only proves everything already said about this matter is conjecture. We do not know what this thorn was. We do know that Paul was beaten, flogged more than once, stoned, exposed to death more than once, been in danger more times than can be counted, and yet he continued to preach the good news. Some of the guesses as to this thorn vary from an actual physical deformity or infirmity to the external opposition of the messenger of Satan, who is thought to be this great false teacher, who followed after Paul trying to destroy all his work. Whatever this thorn was is not the important issue here. What truth we can glean is how Paul pleaded with God three times. We do not know if those three times were close all at the same time, or over the course of days, weeks, or months that he prayed and pleaded for God to take it away. From the context of this conversation with God and God’s answer, we do believe Paul’s thorn was of a physical nature, some weakness, ill health, considering all the physical abuse he has gone through over his years of ministry. How could it not take a toll on his body? Yet that did not keep him from moving forward, keep on keeping on. Still, he pleaded with God to heal him, to take away this thorn, which the Greek word means wooden stake, a pointed piece of wood. It is difficult to think of that as a physiological thorn, but more of something physical. Nevertheless, the Lord made it clear that His grace was all that Paul needed, for, in Paul’s weakness, the power of the Lord is made perfect. Two truths come out of that for us. First, if we had perfect abilities, superior knowledge, highly tuned oratory skills, of what glory does the power of the Lord receive? If we are strong then how does God get the glory? No, it is when we have no training, no skills of our own, no formal learned knowledge, or perfect looking, then the influence of God upon our hearts shows his power, his glory through us. This was His answer to Paul. No, stay weak looking, for my divine influence upon your heart is enough and through your weakness, people will see my glory and power. Everything is about the glory of God. What good is being the prefect looking specimen of humankind, with all the formal training possible, if we are the ones people look to and give praise for? What good are we if we do not live in such a manner that brings praise and glory to God? It does not matter how good we look, or how healthy we are, for when we are weak, when we are simply human, with all its limitations, but we submit to the influence of God, then He gets all the glory and honor that He and He alone deserves. God is the one who makes us strong, who gets us through it all. His grace is enough.