And that I might not be exalted by the exceeding greatness of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn for the flesh, a messenger of Satan that he might buffet me, that I might not be exalted.
Paul had just described being caught up to the third heaven, and the very next thing he reports is pain. An unmatched revelation and a wound arrive together, and both come from God's care for one man's soul.
The danger was not in heaven but in coming back down. The risk lay in what the old nature would do with the privilege once it was over.
He has been in the third heaven. He had received this wonderful abundance of revelations, and the flesh says to him, "No one has ever been in the third heaven except you." … He is not puffed up while he is there, because it is the presence of God, and nobody can be proud in the presence of God. People imagine that being in the third heaven makes a person proud. Never! The danger is, once you are out of the third heaven, that the flesh becomes proud of having been there.
The word translated "thorn" is stronger than the English suggests.
It is said that "thorn" hardly conveys the sense adequately, and that "stake" would be better. We do not think much of thorns and remove them easily, but a stake in the flesh is far more serious and completely crippling in its effects. What Paul was referring to we do not know. It is probably left vague on purpose, so that all our attention rests on one fact: any affliction, even the most damaging kind, can be turned into an occasion of spiritual preservation and gain.
Paul does not say the thorn happened to him. He says it was given, and much rests on that one word.
It is "to keep me from becoming conceited" — not bringing me back after failure, but preventing the failure from ever happening. It was a grievous thing for Paul; a messenger of the devil. Who but God could use Satan against Satan? This very thorn, this messenger of Satan, took away from Satan the power to work on Paul's flesh. … We are very prone to use the language of unbelief and say, "This or that happened to me." Would it not be far more blessed to say, "God sent me this or that"? Is there not a sweetness about anything, however grievous, when I can say, "My Father's hand in watchful love brought me this thorn"? "A thorn was given me in the flesh" — it was not a crushing trial that happened to me; it was a given mercy.
The thorn is a messenger of Satan, sent to strike Paul blow after blow. So who stands behind the blows?
We should rather say that the devil was permitted to deal him heavy blows, for everything that happened was beneath the hand of God. It was with Paul as it had been long before with Job: we can trace three causes. The third causes were fire from heaven, whirlwind and evil men in Job's case, and the thorn in the flesh in Paul's. Behind these in each case lay the power and hostility of Satan; but behind him, as the first cause, was the hand of God. Job's safety and blessing lay in turning away from the third causes, and even from the second cause, so that he might accept everything from the hand of God. It was the same with Paul.
The silence about what the thorn was is a kindness to every later reader.
This discipline is suited and adapted to each individual soul. This, I have no doubt, is why all speculation about the nature of Paul's thorn in the flesh ends in nothing. God has wisely seen fit to leave it untold. If God had made it known, we might have decided that it was not ours, and left it there. Leaving it untold lets us see a great principle of God's dealings, seen in this man's case but applicable to all. Each would have his suited "thorn". It is the very thing that would counteract his natural tendency. So it strips him of every claim to power and breaks any imagined strength of man.
The thorn was not the price of the vision. It was what made the vision useful to anyone else.
Here is a man who has seen the glories of heaven. He comes to earth, and what does he find? Not glories and honours, but the thorn in his flesh, Satan's messenger. He is to learn that the only vessel out of which such glories can shine is a broken vessel. Otherwise he would be puffed up by the revelations. And there is great danger that the precious truths that belong to us as men in Christ may simply feed our natural pride.
- Cause. Heaven itself left the flesh in Paul untouched. Pride waited for him on the way back down, not while he stood in God's presence.
- Gift. The thorn was given — a stake, not a splinter, and a mercy from a Father's hand not an accident that happened to him.
- Agent. Satan struck the blows, but God stood behind him as first cause, and He turned the enemy's malice against the enemy.
- Aim. It was preventive, not punishment: sent so a fall would never happen, not to restore him after one.
- Reach. God leaves the thorn unnamed, so every believer can find his own. And only a broken vessel lets heaven's light shine out.
For this I thrice besought the Lord that it might depart from me.
Paul had just described visions and revelations, and then a thorn in the flesh came to keep him from being lifted up. Verse 8 records what he did about it. He prayed three times, and the thorn stayed.
The thorn came as a messenger of Satan, and Paul's first move was prayer. One writer makes this the pattern for anyone under attack:
If you would not be overcome by temptation, be much in prayer. Prayer is the best antidote against temptation. Christ prescribes this remedy: "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation" (Mark 14:38). When Paul had "a messenger of Satan to harass him," he took himself to prayer. When Satan assaults furiously, let us pray fervently.
Notice how he prayed:
Very naturally Paul took himself to prayer. It was intense prayer: he not only requested but pleaded. It was repeated, for he pleaded with the Lord three times.
Paul takes this to "the Lord" — that is, to Christ. One writer explains why that address suits the subject:
A careful look at the Scriptures shows that there are particular subjects which we more fittingly bring before the Lord. For example, there is a special relationship between the servant and the Lord. He Himself taught His disciples this: "Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." The apostle does the same. In the matter of the thorn in the flesh, which he felt was hindering his service, he addresses himself to Christ as Lord.
The thorn touched Paul's work and his standing as a preacher:
The thorn in the flesh was truly humbling to the great apostle. This is clear from what he says to the Galatians: "though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me." It was something that made him easy to look down on as a preacher. He thought, no doubt, that it would greatly hinder his usefulness; but he had to learn that the great hindrance to usefulness is the flesh.
Writers compare Paul's three prayers with the Lord's threefold prayer about the cup. They differ on what the comparison shows. One sees a likeness:
Three times (like the Lord with reference to the cup He was to drink) the apostle asks Him that the thorn may be taken away. But the divine life is formed in the putting off of self. That putting off is worked in us as we become conscious of how unsuited this flesh is — the flesh we like to gratify — to the presence of God and to the service we are called to.
Another writer starts further back, with the wish to escape:
The apostle's first thought was: could I not get out of this difficulty? Believers think they need only get out of their circumstances. But don't you know that if you did, you would take with you the nature that makes your circumstances so trying? Here the apostle goes to God to change his circumstances; we often change them for ourselves. He said, "Take it away, Lord," three times. What a contrast to the threefold prayer of the blessed One to His Father, ending with, "Not my will, but yours, be done." It was the perfection of Christ to shrink from drinking that cup. Paul, imperfect and feeble, prayed: Lord, change my circumstances. The answer came in this: Do you want Me to put you in circumstances where you will not need My power? "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
The thorn stayed. But the reply Paul received was not silence, and it was not less than what he asked:
Yet for all that, his desire was not granted. Instead of having the thorn removed he received the assurance of abundant grace — such grace that the thorn would become an asset rather than a liability, a means of blessing rather than a hindrance. The Lord answered his prayer, but not according to his thought. He gave him instead what was better.
A refusal does not close the door on asking:
But his prayer did not match the mind of God, who had a better thing in store for Paul — a thing Paul would have lost if his request had been granted... To present our requests, with submission, is always our privilege. Paul's example shows this. He pleaded with the Lord for his desire not once only, but three times. The result was that he became so submissive that in the end he took pleasure in the very weaknesses he had begged to lose.
- Asked rightly. The thorn sent Paul to prayer. He did not mention it once and move on; he pleaded, and came back to it three times.
- Asked the Lord. He took it to Christ as Lord. A servant brings his Master what touches his service.
- Asked wrongly. He wanted the thorn gone because he thought it hindered his usefulness. He had to learn that the flesh is the real hindrance.
- Asked and refused. The Lord answered the prayer without granting the request. He gave something better than removal.
- Asked and changed. The man who begged three times to lose the thorn ended up taking pleasure in the weakness he had wanted gone.