Prayer Changes Things, Part Two

“So to keep me from being too elated by the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12.7-10, ESV).

First of all, though in some way painful for Paul, this “thorn” had a specific purpose. Paul said it was “to keep (him) from being too elated by the surpassing greatness of the revelations (12.7a.).” What revelations? In verse two of chapter seven, Paul mentioned something amazing that had happened to him fourteen years prior to this writing. He said that he was “caught up to the third heaven,” and in verse three he said that he was “caught up to paradise.” Whether in the body or out of the body, Paul wasn’t sure – but he had been to heaven and back!

A number of people in recent history have recounted so-called “out of body experiences.” In fact, their “experiences” are often the subject of anything from daytime talk shows to best selling books. Whether those experiences are true or not, only God knows. But I do know that Paul’s experiences really happened, because the Bible says they did. Paul didn’t take his experiences on the daytime talk show circuit or write a book about them. In fact, Paul said that what he had seen and heard were “things that cannot be told (12.4).”

If anyone could have boasted about what he knew and what he had seen, it was Paul. But God took care of that! To keep Paul humble – to make sure that he didn’t boast about his experiences and thereby glorify himself - “a thorn was given (emphasis mine)” to Paul in the flesh. Now it usually brings us pleasure when someone gives us something, but this “gift” from God brought Paul pain. In fact, it brought Paul so much pain that he begged God to take His “gift” back!

However, Paul’s prayer did not change his situation. Paul’s request of God was denied. Instead of removing the thorn, God reminded Paul of His grace. He said, “My grace is sufficient for you (12.9a).” In other words, God would not remove Paul’s thorn because He had given it to him for a reason. What God would do, though, is make His grace constantly available to Paul to enable him to endure his thorn. In fact, Paul’s weakness would be the stage on which God’s power would perform.

How did Paul respond to God’s answer? Precisely the way he should! If it is through my weakness that God’s power is most seen in my life – if my weakness is the stage on which God’s power performs – if weakness is the secret to having the power of Christ rest upon me - then, Paul says, “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses.”

I submit to you that this “revelation” far surpassed those previously mentioned. In a matter of four verses, we see a man transformed before our very eyes! Paul went from bemoaning a temporary predicament to boasting in an eternal purpose. His motivation in prayer went from seeking his gain to seeking God’s glory. What he had previously viewed as a hindrance to his life and ministry, he now viewed as a help to his own walk with Christ as well as his ministry to others. He no longer complained for his own sake, but, “for the sake of Christ,” became “content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.”

In other words, whatever circumstances or situations that most revealed God’s power in his life, and whatever circumstances or situations that resulted in the most glory for God, Paul was ready to endure through God’s abiding grace. Later he would say, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me (Phil 4.13; cf. Col 1.29; 1 Peter 4.19)” – even endure a thorn in the flesh!

In Part One of this lesson I challenged you to take a phrase out of your vocabulary and replace it with a new one. I asked you to replace the phrase, “Prayer changes things” with the phrase, “Through prayer, God changes me in the things.”

Again, I believe this is precisely what happened in Paul’s life. Through communion with God, Paul learned that though he was free to present any and all of his requests to God (Phil 4.6), God was not bound to grant the requests that he made. Prayer does not “change things” in the sense that it moves the sovereign hand of God to do something He has not purposed to do. Now it may be that God has ordained a thing to happen, and ordained that it would come about through the prayers of his people, but still, God is sovereign. And there are other times, like in Paul’s case, when God simply denies the request we have made because He has a purpose for the thorn.

Thorns – whatever they are in our lives – are painful. But when we understand, as Paul did, that God has a purpose for the pain, we can begin to see our weaknesses as gifts from God for our good and for His glory.

Real strength doesn’t come from what we can do on our own - all thorns removed – which gives the glory to us. Real strength comes from understanding what God’s power can do through our weaknesses – thorns and all – which gives all the glory to Him. Prayer may not always change the things in my life, but prayer will always change me in the things if I believe that, “when I am weak, then I am strong.”