II Cor. 12:9 ... "And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me."
When Jesus was engaged in His earthly ministry, Paul, then known as Saul of Tarsus, was not one of His disciples. While the Twelve whom Jesus chose to be His apostles accompanied Him wherever He went, beholding His great and often miraculous deeds and hearing from His mouth the heavenly counsel He declared, Saul was sitting at the feet of a Jewish rabbi named Gamaliel being educated in the Mosaic Law and the rabbinical interpretation of it. Some years later, however, Saul was converted to Christ and then appointed to be an apostle of the same status as those who had walked personally with Jesus. In fact, only two verses after the chosen text above, Paul declared, "In no respect was I inferior to the most eminent apostles." But he suffered the great disadvantage of not having been an eyewitness of Jesus' ministry and not hearing the gospel taught from Jesus' very mouth. To overcome this deficiency, the Lord visited Paul with what he called "the surpassing greatness of the revelations" (v.7). In one of these visits Paul was caught up into into heaven where he heard "inexpressible words which a man is not permitted to speak" (v.4). In Gal. 1:12 Paul wrote, "For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ."
Being a mortal man and subject to the same temptations as anyone else, Paul was faced with the danger of becoming swollen with pride over these frequent revelations and his extraordinary visit to heaven. To restrain this tendency, the Lord sent upon the apostle "a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to torment" him (v.7). In other words, God permitted Satan to afflict Paul with some kind of physical disorder to humble him, somewhat similar to the case in which God allowed Satan to strike Job with a loathsome disease. This disorder cannot be identified, although this writer is of the opinion it related to Paul's eyes and vision. (See Gal. 6:11, 4:14-15; Acts 23:5). Whatever it was, it distressed Paul greatly, so that he implored God three times to remove it. Because it was having the very effect upon Paul that God intended, He refused to remove it. Instead, He gave the answer, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."
The Lord refused to take away the physical malady, but He did promise His servant the strength to endure it. There is a great lesson here for Christians today. Pride is ultimately a more destructive force in a person's life than any physical disease, for pride can destroy the soul while a disease can destroy only the body. In Lk. 12:4-5 Jesus taught, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell." God hates pride (Pro. 6:17), and Jas. 4:6 declares that "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble." It may just be that when a Christian suffers infirmities, it is part of the Lord's design to purify that person's soul and perfect it for heaven. It is certainly right to make repeated appeals to God to remove one's "thorn in the flesh," for if it is not sent by God, in His great mercy and lovingkindness He may act to remove it. James 5:15 promises that "the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up." But if the infirmity is a thing sent by God, we may trust that He will answer our prayers as He answered Paul's. He will by His grace supply all the strength and patience we need to endure the ailment while it performs its necessary task of perfecting our soul to see God and enjoy His beautiful home forever.
