I can hear the wheels spinning already. Your mind is screaming, "Sickness! It's sickness! It has to be sickness!" This is the scripture verbatim, in 2 Corinthians 12:7, "And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure."
Look closely at "a thorn in the flesh was given to me". What does the very next line say? The very next words tell us exactly what that thorn in the flesh was. The thorn in the flesh was a messenger of Satan to harass him. The thorn was a messenger of Satan to harass him. Honestly, I could stop right there and that could be the end of this article. How much more clear do we need things to be when the Lord flat out tells us what the "the thorn in the flesh" was. However, I sought the Lord for His wisdom, as well as deeper truths and revelations in scripture.
JEWISH IDIOMS
The first thing the Holy Spirit said to me was that "thorn in the flesh" is a Jewish idiom. It's the equivalent to our slang term "pain in the butt". When we say "pain in the butt", we don't literally mean an aching in our derriere. We use it to refer to something that's an annoyance of sorts. He then led me to Old Testament scriptures that use "thorn in the flesh", as well as other Jewish colloquialisms.
The first thing the Holy Spirit said to me was that "thorn in the flesh" is a Jewish idiom. It's the equivalent to our slang term "pain in the butt". When we say "pain in the butt", we don't literally mean an aching in our derriere. We use it to refer to something that's an annoyance of sorts. He then led me to Old Testament scriptures that use "thorn in the flesh", as well as other Jewish colloquialisms.
Numbers 33:55-56
But if you will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you;
then it shall come to pass, that those that you let remain of them shall
be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the
land in which you dwell. Furthermore it shall come to pass, that I shall do to you, as I
thought to do to them.
Joshua 23:11-13
Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that you love the LORD your God, else if you do in any way go back, and cling to the remnant of these
nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages
with them, and go in to them, and they to you; Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any
of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and
traps to you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until
you perish from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you.
Judges 2:2-3
And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you
shall throw down their altars: but you have not obeyed my voice: why have you
done this? Therefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they
shall be as thorns in your sides, and their Gods shall be a
snare to you.
Ezekiel 28:24
And there shall be no more a pricking brier to the house of Israel, nor any
of grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that
despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
Notice that every thorn is referencing people. When people were sick in the Bible, it plainly states they were sick or diseased. Nowhere in scripture will you find that anyone was healed of a "thorn in the flesh". Nowhere in scripture is "thorn" ever referred to as sickness or disease; it ONLY refers to people who persecuted or harassment.
PAUL'S TRIALS
Galatians 4:14 “And my trial which was in my flesh you did
not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as
Christ Jesus.”
Acts 20:19 "Serving the
Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews..."
In these two passages, when Paul talks about his trials and trials in the flesh, they are the same translation (Peirasmos) as in Matthew (5:11), James (1:2 & 12), and 1 Peter (4:12) where man gets blessed when he is persecuted and endures Temptation. The "thorn" refers to trials, temptations, and people who persecuted; not sickness. If one believes we shouldn't assume the thorn was persecution because Paul was being literal; then one also can't assume it was sickness either. By that reasoning, it would have to be an actual thorn in his flesh. I don't, nor should you, base the truth of God on anyone's assumptions. Too many people are deceived with faulty belief systems and are ministering out of their own brokenness (areas they haven't yet yielded to the Lord). Side Note: This is one of the many reasons why being baptized in the Holy Ghost is vital to the believer's walk with the Lord. Without that endowment of power, we often lean towards our own understanding and are less likely to relinquish our hearts when the Lord is trying to deepen our revelations of Him.
KEEPING IT IN CONTEXT
Keeping the thorn in the flesh in context with whom is speaking (Paul), whom he is speaking to (the church of Corinth), and the way Paul speaks; yes he often got straight to the point and didn't sugar coat things. However, he most certainly used metaphors in his letters. The most common one is his comparison of faith to that of an athlete.
I UNDERSTAND IT HURTS
I know what it feels like to lose someone you love and to find out their faith may not have been what you thought. I know what it feels like to think their belief system was faulty or to even discover we ourselves have been deceived. It's more than painful, it can be offensive; to think we or our loved ones are responsible for our own demise in some way. Something tragic happens and we're left with thoughts of "I prayed for healing and it didn't happen" or "I prayed for this person to live, but they died". These thoughts lead to the infamous excuse "this is just my thorn in the flesh". It makes us feel better to believe God wants it and there is purpose in it because the alternative is just too shattering.
It hurts and offends us so badly, but our new nature doesn't want to blame God, so we cling to anything that will ease our conscience and make our emotions feel better. Inevitably, and dangerously, this will always lead to the mindset that God wants to get glory from us relying on His strength to make it through physical ailments. Once again, Satan's way of deceiving children of God. Our experiences do not and cannot change the truth about God's character or His word.
SUMMARY
Jesus is God; therefore His character is the character of God and Jesus never told anyone His grace was sufficient for them to stay sick so He could get glory. Jesus never turned anyone away who wanted to be healed. He healed ALL who came to Him. Anyone who has a sickness wants it to be gone. Persecution however, is something to rejoice in and count it all joy. We cannot twist the truth of God and His character to ease our emotional state. God doesn't get glory by you being sick or dying. Sickness is not of God; it is of the enemy. God gave us dominion over the enemy and everything that comes from him. God gets glory by you living victoriously through the dominion He gave you! He also tells us we are the apple of His eye...this doesn't mean we are literal apples.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
As believers, we are ALL called to be ministers of the gospel. Scripture tells us we will ALL suffer persecution. If Paul's thorn in the flesh was sickness, then why aren't ALL believers sick, ALL the time and God saying to ALL of us that His grace is sufficient...
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