THE THORN IN THE FLESH – Charles Spurgeon
The Thorn in the Flesh
Introduction
“And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My Grace is sufficient for you: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
—2 Corinthians 12:7-9
Many persons have a morbid desire to roll up the curtain and gaze upon the secret lives of eminent individuals. Paragraphs detailing the private habits of public figures are delicacies for such minds. Books stuffed with idle gossip and mere trash are sure of a wide circulation if they tell how princes ate, how warriors drank, how philosophers slept, or how senators arranged their hair. Now, we can gratify curiosity and still minister to edification, for we have unveiled before us a portion of the secret life of Paul, the great Apostle of the Gentiles.
We may not only see his bedchamber, but we also learn the Apostle’s visions; we may not only see his private infirmities but also understand their cause. Let us not, however, be motivated by mere curiosity while we gaze upon the open secret. Let us remember that the Apostle never intended to amuse the curious when he penned these words, but he wrote them for a practical purpose. We should read them with a desire to be instructed by them, and may the Holy Spirit teach us to profit.
The Purpose of Paul’s Experience
This record was not sent to us merely so we would know that this eminent servant of Christ had abundant revelations, or that he suffered a thorn in the flesh. It was written for our profit. One excellent end that may be answered by this narrative lies upon the very surface: we are plainly taught how mistaken we are when we set the eminent saints of the olden times upon a platform by themselves, as though they were a class of super-human beings. Because we fall so far short of them, we excuse our indolence by conceiving them to be of a superior nature to ourselves. We elevate them upon a niche out of the way so they may not rebuke us, rendering them a homage which they never sought, and denying them a usefulness which they always coveted. As we never try to fly because we have no angelic wings, so we do not aspire to supreme holiness because we imagine that we have not Apostolic advantages.
Indeed, this is a very injurious idea and must not be tolerated. What the ancient saints were, we may be! They were men of like passions with ourselves and are, therefore, the most fit and practical examples for us. The Spirit of God which was in them is in all Believers, and He is by no means straitened! Their Savior is our Savior; His fullness is the fullness out of which all of us have received. Let us put far away from us every notion of separating the holy men of former days from ourselves, as if they were a saintly caste to be admired at a distance but not associated with as comrades. They fought the common fight and won by the strength available to all Believers. Let us esteem them as our Brethren, and with them pursue the sacred conflict in the name of our common Leader, Jesus Christ!
Let us fix our eyes upon these companions of our warfare. Regarding them as a sympathetic cloud of witnesses, let us run as they ran so that we may win as they won and glorify God in our day and generation as they did in theirs! Paul, my Brothers and Sisters, doubtless enjoyed more revelations than we have, but then he had a corresponding thorn in the flesh. He rises above us, but he also sinks with us, encouraging us to emulate his rising! He was a good man but he was only a man. He was a saint, but he had the infirmities of sinners. He is our Brother Paul, though he is “not a whit behind the very chief of the Apostles.”
As we read his experience this morning, I hope we shall be made to feel a fellowship with him, and so be spurred on to imitate him.
I. The Danger to Which the Apostle Was Exposed
Our text suggests to us, first of all, a danger to which the Apostle was exposed: “Lest I should be exalted above measure.” Upon that, let us speak first. Here is a peril to which we are all exposed, more or less, but the Apostle Paul was especially liable to it because of his peculiar circumstances. He had been caught up into the third Heaven—secret things which had not been seen before were laid bare before his gaze. Nor were his eyes alone filled—his ears were also satisfied, for he heard words which it was not possible for him to repeat, and which, if he could have repeated, would not have been expedient for him to whisper in the unpurified ears of mankind!
He had been taken into the innermost part of the third Heaven; into that secret Paradise where Christ dwells with His perfected saints! He had entered into the nearest communion with God possible to a man while yet in this life. Should he not feel somewhat exalted? Surely exultation must fill the man’s bosom that has been brought within the veil to see his God and to hear the unutterable harmonies!
It was natural that he should be exalted, and it was not unnatural that he should stand in danger of being exalted above measure. Devout exaltation very rapidly degenerates into self-exaltation! When God lifts us up, there is only one step further—namely our lifting up ourselves—and then we fall into serious mischief indeed.
How many among us could bear to receive such revelations as Paul had? O God, You may well, in Your kindness, spare us such perilous favors; we have neither the head nor heart to sustain so vast a load of blessing. Our little plant needs not a river to water its root, the gentle dew suffices—the flood might wash it away!
How many has God blessed in the ministry for a little while, or in some other form of service? But, alas, how soon have they swollen with conceit, and have become too big for the world to hold them! Puffed up with vanity, the honor put upon them has turned their brain, and they have gone astray into gross folly, sheer vanity, or defiling sin. Many branches but little root have brought down the tree. Wing without weight has made the bird the sport of the hurricane. Even Paul’s boat, when it enjoyed so mighty a wind of Divine revelation, was nearly upset, and would have been totally wrecked had it not been for the Lord’s casting in the sacred ballast of which we shall have to speak later.
Now observe, if Paul was in this danger, we cannot hope to be free from it. He was eminently a holy man, a humble man, a wise man, and an experienced man. Though specially favored, he was one to whom the highest privileges were not such novelties as to intoxicate him with vanity. He had enjoyed earthly honors; he had once been a highly esteemed Rabbi among his fellow countrymen, and this did not elevate him with pride. He counted all his honors but loss for Christ’s sake.
He afterwards became a well-beloved Apostle of Jesus, and the narrative of his works and sufferings is far too long for us to give you even a digest of, yet he does not seem to have been exalted thereby. He achieved a thousand marvels of heroism, and left them all behind him, pressing forward as though he had done nothing. And when he had done all, he counted himself to be less than the least of all saints, and the very chief of sinners!
He was a man of great mind, deep comprehension, and profound knowledge. Yet, for all that, he was in danger of being exalted above measure. How much more likely, then, are we, who have not his judgment, who have not his knowledge, and who have never performed such mighty deeds?
If so massive a pillar trembles, what peril surrounds poor reeds shaken in the wind?
II. The Preventative: A Thorn in the Flesh
Now, secondly, let us consider the preventative. Paul says, “There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.” Note every word here. First, he says, “There was given to me.” He reckoned his great trial to be a gift! It is well put. He does not say, “There was inflicted upon me a thorn in the flesh,” but, “There was given to me.” This is holy reckoning. O child of God, among all the goods of your house, you have not one single article that is a better touch of Divine Love to you than your daily cross!
You would gladly be rid of it, but you would lose your choicest treasure if it were withdrawn; blessed be God for the crucible and the furnace! “There was given to me a thorn in the flesh.” Rich grace bestowed the blessing!
At first, the Apostle may not have seen his thorn as a gift, but afterwards, when experience had taught him patience, he came to look at that sharp, pricking, festering torment as a gift from his heavenly Father. You, O tried one, will come to do the same one of these days.
When the vessel first launched upon the river, it felt itself light and airy, ready to bound over the waves. It longed for a voyage across the Atlantic, to fly like a sea bird over the crest of the billows. But suddenly, to her sorrow, the gallant ship was stopped in her career and moored close by a bank of sand.
Men began to cast stones and earth into her. Then the boat murmured, “What? Am I to be weighed down and sunk low in the water with a cargo of mire and dirt?” It was even so, for had not the vessel been thus ballasted, she would have soon been wrecked. That ballast was a gift, as much as if it had been bars of gold or ingots of silver.
So your trials, your troubles, and your infirmities are gifts to you, O Believers, and you must regard them as such! The Apostle says, “There was given to me a thorn.” Note that—it was “a thorn.” If the English word expresses the exact meaning, and I think it is pretty near it, you need not be at a loss to understand the simile.
A thorn is but a little thing and indicates a painful, but not a killing trial—not a huge, crushing, overwhelming affliction, but a common matter. None the less painful, however, because it is common and insignificant. A thorn is a sharp thing which pricks, pierces, irritates, lacerates, festers, and causes endless pain and inconvenience.
It was a secret grief somewhere, I know not where, but near his heart, continually wherever he might be, irritating him, perpetually vexing him, and wounding him. A thorn—a commonplace thing such as might grow in any field and fall to any man’s lot.
Thorns are plentiful enough, and have been since Father Adam scattered the first handful of the seed. A thorn—nothing to make a man unbearable, or give him the dignity of unusual sorrow. Some men boast about their great trials, but a thorn could not drive even this wretched satisfaction!
It was a thorn “in the flesh”—not a temptation in the spirit, but in the flesh. Paul’s trial had an intimate connection with his body. Many as the leaves of autumn have been the guesses of learned men as to what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was. Almost every disease has had its advocates. Some have suggested that it was the gout, others weak eyesight, stammering, or even a hypochondriac tendency.
Conclusion
Though we do not know exactly what the thorn in the flesh was, we can be certain that it was a constant trial that humbled Paul, kept him dependent on God, and prevented him from being exalted above measure. In the same way, our own trials—often small and seemingly insignificant—are opportunities for us to depend on God, to remain humble, and to avoid the danger of self-exaltation. Let us, like Paul, learn to accept our trials as gifts from God, designed to keep us grounded and focused on His glory.
The Preventative: A Thorn in the Flesh
You see, Brothers and Sisters, that this preventative was well adapted to work out its design, for assuredly it would recall the Apostle from ecstasies and excitements, and make him feel that he was in the body after all. He said once, “Whether in the body, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell,” but when the thorn in the flesh was tearing him, he soon settled that question! This made him feel he was a man, even as others; he had dreamed, perhaps, that he was growing very angelic, but now he feels intensely human. This made him feel he was only a man—though he was filled so full with God, still he was only a man—and could be filled as full with the devil too, if deserted by Divine Grace! This made him feel that he was a weak man, for he had to do battle with base temptations—temptations that seemed not worth fighting with! He had to be cuffed and buffeted in a small way, like a babe in Grace; this made him know that he was a man in danger, and needed to fly to God for refuge, for here he was, ready to be exalted above measure even by Divine Blessings—and ready to be provoked into sin by the mere buffetings of an evil spirit!
From all this, I gather that the worst trial a man may have may be the best possession he has in this world; that the messenger of Satan may be as good to him as his guardian angel! It may be that it is well for us to be buffeted of Satan as ever it was to be caressed of the Lord Himself! It may be essential to our soul’s salvation that we should do business not only in deep waters, but in waters that cast up mire and dirt. The worst form of trial may, nevertheless, be our best present portion. I perceive, also, that the worst and deepest experience may only be the necessary complement of the highest and the noblest! I mean it may be necessary that if we are lifted up, we should be cast down; it may only be part and parcel of the cry, “Nearer my God to You, nearer to You” that we should have to groan out, also, “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” The two fit into each other like the pieces of a puzzle; they rise and fall like the scales of a balance—and without its fellow, either of them might be ruinous to us. Learn, also, that we must never envy other saints. If we hear Paul speak of his visions, let us remember his thorn in the flesh; if we meet with a Brother who rejoices abundantly, and whom God acknowledges and blesses, let us not conclude that his pathway is all smooth; his roses have their thorns, his bees their stings. As for ourselves, let us never wish to be without our daily cross. The kite broke away from its string, and instead of mounting to the stars it descended into the mud. The river grew weary of its restraining banks, and longed to burst them, that it might rush on in the wild joy of freedom—down went the embankments, the river became a flood and carried destruction and desolation wherever it rushed! Unleash the coursers of the sun, and, lo, the earth is burned! Unbind the belt of the elements, and chaos reigns! Let us never desire to be rid of those restraints which God has seen fit to lay upon us—they are more necessary than we have ever dreamed of. Remember how the vine, when bound to the stake which upheld it, judged itself a martyr and longed to be free, but when it saw the wild vine at its feet, rotting in the dampness, and pining amidst the heats and producing no fruit—it felt how necessary were its bonds if its clusters were ever to ripen! Be content, dear Brothers and Sisters, to keep the thorn in the flesh if it saves you from being exalted above measure!
III. The Immediate Effect of This Thorn Upon Paul
First—it drove him to his knees. “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice.” Anything is a blessing which makes us pray! This thorn compelled Paul to cry unto God, and having commenced to pray, he resorted to prayer again and again. “I besought the Lord thrice.” It may be that this was the exact number of his special prayers on that point; it may, however, only intimate that he often cried to God for deliverance from this trouble. Yes, we may be lax in prayer when all things flow with even current, but we multiply prayers when trials increase. In this way, Paul was kept from being proud. The revelations now seemed forgotten, for the thorn in the flesh was the more prominent thing of the two; now he would not speak about visions, and could not, for when his tongue was tempted to move upon that subject, the thorn began to prick him again! A man does not need to tell pretty stories when his head is aching, or when sharp pains are goading him. Paul was not allowed to dazzle himself with the brightness which God had set before him; his thoughts were turned in another direction, yes, blessedly turned to the Mercy Seat, where he could get no evil, but must derive much profit.
He continued to pray till at last he received for an answer not the removal of the thorn, but the assurance, “My Grace is sufficient for you.” God will always honor our prayers; He will either pay us in silver or in gold, and sometimes it is a golden answer to prayer to deny us our request, and give us the very opposite of what we seek! If you were to tell your child that you would grant him anything he asked for, you would not intend by that that you would give him a poisonous drug if someone should delude him into the idea that it would be useful to him. You would mean that you would give your child all that was really good for him. God, knowing that this thorn in the flesh was a sacred medicine to Paul, would not take it away even though most urgently requested to do so!
Well does Ralph Erskine say of prayer—
“I’m heard when answered soon or late,
Yes, heard when I no answer get.
Most kindly answered when refused
And treated well when harshly used.”
So, though refused, Paul was answered, for he got something better than the taking away of the thorn in the flesh—the result was that the grace given him enabled him to bear the thorn, and lifted him right above it, till he even rejoiced and gloried to think that he was permitted so to suffer! “Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” This is a grand thing! Suppose any person here is very poor, and he has prayed to the Lord many a time to raise him above need, and at last God has said, “My Grace is sufficient for you”? What more can he need? My dear Brother, my dear Sister, rejoice in poverty, and thank God that you are poor! If the Lord is the better glorified thereby, be grateful for your low estate, and say, “I have the honor to be permitted to glorify God in poverty.”
Perhaps it may be you are the subject of a painful bodily infirmity, and you have prayed to have it removed—yet the Lord knows that your infirmity is for His Glory and your good! Well, when He says, “My Grace is sufficient for you,” accept and bear the trial not only with resignation, but with acquiescence! Wish not to change your estate; your heavenly Father knows best!
IV. The Permanent Result of This Preventative Upon Paul
For the present, you see it kept him from being exalted, by making him pray, and by leading him to receive more grace—but permanently the remedy was very successful, for through the Power of the Holy Spirit, it kept him always humble. This thorn in the flesh made him humble in reference to his visions, for he became silent about them; 14 long years rolled away, and the Apostle never told anybody that he had been caught up into the third Heaven. I gather from the way in which he puts it here, that he never mentioned it to a soul. This was singular. Why, if I were caught up into the third Heaven, I should tell you of it the first time I had the chance of addressing you! And I guarantee that most here would not be long before they would impart to their friends the blessed secret!
The thorn in the flesh must have had a powerful effect upon the Apostle’s mind when it led him to wrap up his treasure in his bosom, and go through the world, nobody being any the wiser for all that he had seen! He was a humble man, indeed. When he did tell it, it was dragged out of him. He told it for a purpose. It was only because the Corinthians had denied his Apostleship, and said, “What does he know concerning Divine things?” that he felt bound to vindicate his character; otherwise, he would not have told it. Notice how modestly he speaks of it—in such a way that it does not leave the impression on your mind that he was an eminently honored man through receiving the revelation; the impression received, rather, is how weak it was of Paul to be exalted above measure, and how gracious it was of God to give him the thorn in the flesh to keep him where he should be!
Observe that his way of telling the story is modest in its very form, but it is especially humble in its spirit, for he takes us off from the idea of how gloriously God revealed Himself to Paul, and makes us rather look at the weakness of the recipient of the revelation than at the great honor conferred by the revelation itself. It is no small matter when God sends a thorn in the flesh, and it answers its end, for in some cases, it does not. Without the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, thorns produce evil rather than good.
In many people, their thorn in the flesh does not appear to have fulfilled any admirable design at all—it has created another vice, instead of removing a temptation. We have known some whose poverty has made them envious; we have known others whose sickness has rendered them impatient and petulant, and others, again, whose personal infirmity has rendered them perpetually fretful and rebellious against God! O, dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus, let us labor against this with all our might, and if God has been pleased to put a fetter upon us in any shape or fashion, let us ask Him not to allow us to make this the occasion for fresh folly, but, on the contrary, to bear the rod, and learn its lessons!
Pray that when we are afflicted, we may grow in grace and in likeness to our Lord Jesus, and so bring more honors to His name. Does not this teach us all the solemn duty of being content whatever our lot may be; content without the revelation if we are without the thorn; content with the thorn if we have the revelation; content without either revelation or thorn, as long as we may but have a humble hope in Jesus Christ our Savior? O, Beloved, what a happy people God’s people are and ought to be when everything turns for their good; when even the thorn that was a curse becomes to them a blessing, and out of the lion comes forth honey!
If the thorn is a blessing, what must the blessing itself be? If the smarts of earth heal us, what will the joys of Heaven do for us? Let us be glad! Ours is a happy portion! Let us go on our way rejoicing that we are favored to possess Divine Life, and shoulder our cross cheerfully, for we shall soon, (ah, how soon!), wear our crown!
The Final Thought: The Sad Reality of Being Without Christ
The last thought of all is, what a sad thing it must be not to be a Believer in Jesus Christ, because thorns we shall have if we are not in Christ, but those thorns will not be blessings to us. I understand drinking bitter medicine if it is to make me well, but who would drink wormwood and gall with no good result to follow? I can understand toiling if a wage is in prospect, but I cannot see the sense of toiling when there is no reward for it. Now, you who love not God, your lives are not all flowers and sunshine; it is not all music and dancing with you now! I know you have your cares and troubles; you have your thorns in the flesh, and perhaps a great many of them, and you have no Savior to run to. You are like a ship in a storm, and there is no harbor for you; you are as birds driven before the wind, and you have no nests in which to shelter, but must be driven forever before the blast of Jehovah’s Wrath.
Consider this, I pray you—meditate upon your condition and prospects, and when you have done so, may your heart cry out—“I would gladly have God to be my Friend!” Remember that He who sent Paul thorns for his good, once wore a crown of thorns Himself for the Salvation of sinners! And if you will come and bow before Him as He wears that diadem, and trust Him as the Son of God made flesh for sinners, and bleeding and dying for them, you shall be saved this morning! Your sins, which are many, shall be forgiven you! And though I cannot promise you that you shall be without thorns as you live, I can promise you that your thorns shall be removed—they shall become to you a rich blessing which will be better, still! There is one thorn you shall never have if you believe in Jesus—the thorn of unforgiven sin; the fear of the wrath to come! You shall have the Peace of God which passes understanding, which shall keep your heart and mind by Christ Jesus.
O, that some would trust in Jesus this morning! Go, Brothers and Sisters, and pray it may be so. May the Lord grant it, for Christ’s sake. Amen.
Portion of Scripture Read Before Sermon—Psalm 25