2 Corinthians 12:1-10 (NIV) 1 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. 5I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say. 7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But 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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 tells about his thorn in his flesh. The thorn in our flesh could be an illness, disease or any problem that overwhelms us. A thorn in the flesh can also be anger, hate or other challenges in our lives. We know that this problem was so bad that Paul asked God three times to remove the thorn in his flesh from his side. The thorn in his flesh could be an attack from Satan which tries to take our joy and peace away.
The Apostle Paul was an amazing disciple of God. We are amazed that he was able to write so many books of the Bible. He traveled all over modern day Greece, Turkey, Lebanon and Israel preaching the gospel. It is shocking to hear that he did all of these things while he had a thorn in his side. We imagine that our heroes in the Bible are perfect. They are strong. They are smart. They are able to leap over buildings in a single bound. Oh, that is another story!
The Apostle Paul admitted that he had health problems, physical problems, or some other problem that caused him pain. Paul was weak! In spite of his weakness, Paul was able to serve God. The key message is that God turned Paul’s weakness into his strength. Part of the reason why Paul was okay with his thorn in his flesh is that it helped him from boasting!
I’ve had a lot of thorns in my flesh over my lifetime. The first thorn was stuttering as a child. It hurt me that people did not want to try to understand what I wanted to tell them because the stuttering made it difficult for me to be understood. The stuttering also made it impossible to dream that one day I could preach God’s word. Now, when I preach I remember that it is with God’s help that I am able to preach the gospel. People can listen to me and think that if it wasn’t for the help of God, I would not be able to open my mouth.
I’ve had back aches in my life. One of the worst times that I had back pain was right before a mission trip to Ghana. I couldn’t walk. I was in pain just to sit in a chair. I had to make a decision to cancel my mission trip or to step in faith onto the airplane for almost fifteen hours. I gathered up the ice packs and heat packs to take on my trip. I prayed. I asked for help. I was able to go without pain as soon as I made the decision to serve God and get on that airplane. Every step that I took on that mission trip was because of God’s grace. God made my weak back strong so I could serve him better. I remembered that I was nothing without God in my life.
I’ve had illnesses that most people in America will never experience because I ate unsafe food in Africa. It has been really tough to overcome salmonella typhi food poisoning and typhoid fever. Now, I am better able to understand people who deal with unsafe food and water every day of their life. I have also had migraine headaches as a result of the typhoid fever. I’ve never had migraine headaches in my life. It may take about one year to recover completely from typhoid fever. I’m able to understand the pain caused by a migraine headache. Now, when I speak about the need to have safe food to eat and clean water to drink it is from a personal perspective that I can talk about the need.
This week, I was complaining that it was taking a long time for the cracked heads on my boat engine to be repaired. I received a call from my friend, Ryan Lester, who was preparing for brain surgery to remove a tumor near his brain stem. I was worrying about a cracked head on a boat while Ryan was worrying about a tumor inside his head. My problem was not nearly as critical as Ryan’s. Ryan made it through surgery without a problem. The problem with my boat was a very small thorn that I turned into a much bigger issue. We turn really small problems into very big issues that rule our lives.
I’ve allowed fear to creep into my thoughts. The fear would start adding doubt about my actions. I would be afraid to go to serve God because a chief wanted me killed. The driver for a public greyhound bus driver in Ghana was passing trucks on blind curves in the highway. I thought I was going to die just riding on the bus. At some point, I told God that I was in his hands. I trusted God with my life. I quickly found that I could go anywhere to do God’s work. I realized that it was God’s plan for me to go. I realized that it was God’s will when my time on this earth was going to end. I now know that every day on earth is a gift from God. I no longer have fear. My fear has been replaced with faith.
I helped with the kids games last year at the 4th of July celebration at the Franklin County High School. I helped with the climbing wall for the kids. Some of the kids had to be pulled up the climbing wall because they were too small or too weak to do it themselves. A few of the pieces of rope became embedded into my left hand. I came down with MRSA. MRSA is a really bad staph infection. I had to have surgery to cut out the infection.
Do you see a trend? Satan is whispering into my ear that if I help someone or do something for children or serve God in some way, I’ll have a very painful thorn in my side. Satan reassures me that if I just worry about Walter and don’t get in his way, I won’t get MRSA, malaria, or typhoid fever. I’ll be healthy if I just don’t go to Africa again. I won’t have to spend a week in the hospital if I just mind my own business. I just need to stop serving God. Not!
The thorns in my side have made me stronger. The thorns in my side have given me greater compassion about the needs and pains of others. The thorns in my side make me realize that all things are possible when we call on the love and power of Jesus Christ in our lives. God has allowed me to speak of his love. My tongue still gets tied up in knots at times, but then the power of the Holy Spirit will give me the words to speak. God gave me a stronger back so I can do his work. God enabled me to walk on his path and follow his light, but God did not promise that his path would be easy. God’s path is hard. God promised that the rewards for eternity would make the pain and hardship worth it. I’m willing to go on my faith journey even though I am weak because I know that with God’s power I am made strong.
If I was strong and a great speaker without God, it would be easy to understand how I could accomplish my task. It is a better testimony to understand that I am just a man doing the best I can. I am a weak man. It is because of the grace of God that I am strengthened to go on the course that God has planned for me.
What is your thorn in your side? Do you listen to Satan’s whispers in your head? Is Satan’s messenger the one who is tormenting you like the Apostle Paul? Has Satan told you that you are weak? Has Satan told you that you are in too much pain to step out on faith to continue on God’s journey? Has Satan told you that God gave you that pain? Has Satan told you that it was God’s plan that your hip hurts, your arthritis acts up when it rains, that you have migraine headaches or that you have chronic pain? Satan lies. We can accomplish so much if we just ask God to take our burdens and carry us when we are weak.
I want to read 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 from The Message. “7-10Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.”
This world prides itself on being strong. Our society tells us to only rely on our muscles, our brains, and our brawn. Our society tells us that the meek and weak will be crushed by the mean and strong. If we show our weaknesses, God’s strength and grace will glow on our face. We have to let ourselves be less so that we can be more with the grace of God. It doesn’t make sense. Does it? How can we be less at the same time that we are more?
We have more room in our lives for God when we reduce our pride, our hate, our greed and our prejudices. The more of us that we remove, the more space we have in our lives for God. It is a more powerful testimony that I preach with boldness knowing that my tongue was weak until God made it strong. We have to accept God’s will in our lives. We can ask God for miracles and healing in our lives. If God answers our prayers in a different way by leaving a thorn in our side, we must look for the way God can use us despite having that thorn in our side.
I’ve been able to give my testimony to the doctors and nurses in the hospital why I choose to serve God. People that I don’t even know came up to be at the 4th of July Celebration on Friday night to tell me that they are praying for me and that I’ve inspired them. They tell me that their pastor has told them stories about my struggles. If I did not struggle with the thorn in my side, I would not need the prayers of our church family, friends and strangers. It is with the strength and inspiration of all of those who join in my weakness that I am made strong. My weakness has allowed others to participate in my mission and ministry and service to God. If I was strong, there would be no prayer chains across Franklin County.
If I was strong, there would not be a greater understanding of disease in a foreign land. If I was strong, I would not need to serve God and let the power of the Holy Spirit fill me so that I could be made strong with God’s grace and love. I am just a man.
We are weak without God’s grace. We would be nothing. We would have fear and doubt and live a selfish life. Today, we give all honor, praise, and glory for what we do to God in heaven. We thank God that he is willing to use us today and every day of our lives. We give thanks to God that is going to use each and every one of us in ways that we can only imagine.
If we are weak, we are searching for God. If we are strong, we have accomplished everything on our own. If we are weak, we are humble. If we are strong, we are proud. If we are weak, we are asking for God’s favor and blessing in our life. If we are strong, we forget about God’s favor and blessing. If we are weak, we glorify God in our strength because people will know that it was because of the grace of God that we were able to accomplish so much more than was humanly possible. In our weakness, God makes us strong! Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment