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.
And he said to me, My grace suffices thee; for [my] power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather boast in my weaknesses, that the power of the Christ may dwell upon me.
Paul had asked three times for one thing — the removal of the thorn — and what came back was not removal but a promise about the Giver Himself. The verse turns a refused request into a discovery: weakness is where Christ's power works.
Paul did not pray casually or half-heartedly. Still, he never got what he asked for. One writer reads the reply as an answer of a completely different kind:
Paul turned to prayer, as anyone would. It was intense prayer: he did not just ask, he begged. And he repeated it, begging the Lord three times. Yet his desire was not granted. Instead of having the thorn removed, he received the promise of abundant grace. That grace would turn the thorn into a help instead of a burden, a blessing instead of a hindrance. The Lord answered his prayer, but not in the way he expected. He gave him something better.
The promise is not grace in the abstract. Twice the Lord says "My," and that one word sets the size of the supply:
He prayed three times for it to be removed, and it stayed. But it became the occasion for a fresh promise of abundant inward grace, in those unforgettable words. It is not only grace, but MY grace, not only strength, but MY strength. You can only measure that grace and strength by the divine and eternal fullness of the One whose they are. Set beside that greatness, how small Paul was — and we are smaller still.
If the Lord could remove it and did not, the thorn must be doing something no removal could do. One writer weighs the two options against each other:
At first, Paul longed to be rid of the thorn in the flesh, whatever it was. But the thorn in the flesh was better than pride in the heart. It was far better to be afflicted than proud. It was better to have Christ's sympathy with him in his trial than the power of His hand taking him out of it.
The refusal, then, is not coldness. Another writer imagines the Lord's reasoning behind it:
Christ is not speaking about Paul's ability to meet the trial. He is speaking about His own heart with Paul in it, to brighten everything. He says, "You want the thorn removed, but I will leave it. It will make you lean on My arm… I want you to see how living My grace is, and I want you to rest your heart on it. I will leave the thorn just to make you feel what you have in Me."
"Made perfect in weakness" is not a paradox to admire but a working rule. Power shows itself only where the person adds nothing:
The thorn is not power in itself, but preparation for power. Suppose Paul was despised in his ministry: well, there never was such a work done before. Then there must be something here besides Paul; Christ must be here… Where is His strength made perfect? In a person who has no strength at all: then it must be Christ.
This explains why believers never graduate into self-sufficiency:
The Lord never gives us strength of our own; He makes us feel our dependence. I am made to feel my weakness when I see how my flesh would even twist the blessings that are mine in Christ.
Before the promise comes the phrase "He said to me." The comfort is not a doctrine held at second hand:
The first sentence of this verse is sometimes overlooked — "He said to me." Paul got it from Christ. You may tell me that Christ is enough, but I must hear it myself from Christ in heaven. That will settle my heart… Before, he begged the Lord to take the thorn away. Now a message from Christ has changed everything. The voice of Christ changes everything. There is no third party here; it is not He and us, but He and me.
Once Paul knows the reason, his attitude to the thorn flips:
This weakness keeps the flesh from boasting. It also becomes the occasion for Christ to display His grace and power. So from now on the Apostle boasts in the very weakness he had wanted removed. He can take pleasure in the very things that we by nature find so hateful — weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and distresses.
- Thorn. It stayed on purpose. Better an afflicted man than a proud one. Better Christ's sympathy in the trial than His hand removing it.
- Voice. Paul did not read that Christ is enough; he heard Christ say it to him. The voice of Christ changes everything, and each person must hear it for themselves.
- Mine. The promise is measured by the One who makes it: not grace, but My grace; not strength, but My strength.
- Weakness. Christ's strength is not perfected in our strength. The thorn is not power; it is the preparation for power.
- Boasting. The end is not resignation but gladness. The thing Paul begged to lose becomes the thing he boasts in, because it makes room for the power of Christ.