23 JUN - Thorn
The Sufficiency of Grace
Heavenly Vision
The most of men who are exalted above measure, are puffed up with the approbation of their fellowmen: they love flattery, they court esteem, and admiring words are the very food their souls feed on.
The Truth of Weaknesses
Corrie ten Boom was once asked if it was difficult for her to remain humble. Her reply was simple. “When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday on the back of a donkey, and everyone was waving palm branches and throwing garments on the road, and singing praises, do you think that for one moment it ever entered the head of that donkey that any of that was for him?”
She continued, “If I can be the donkey on which Jesus Christ rides in His glory, I give him all the praise and all the honor.”696
Humility and Prayer
The believer can pray confidently, knowing that our wise and good God will give us, not necessarily what we ask for, but what is best. For, as the psalmist put it, “no good thing does he [the Lord] withhold from those whose walk is blameless” (Ps. 84:11).
Then he adds, “The messenger of Satan.” Not Satan—it was not a great enough temptation for that. It was a “messenger of Satan;” one of Satan’s errand boys, nothing better, a suggestion from an inferior evil spirit. He does not set it down to the Great Master Spirit, but to a mere messenger of the prince of darkness; it was not intended by God that Satan should, on this occasion, come forth against Paul, for such an encounter might not have humbled him.
Prayer as Hope
One of the great shaping personalities of Protestantism was Martin Luther. We sometimes have the impression that all this brilliant monk did was nail a list of protests on the church door in Wittenberg. Nothing could be further from the truth. He worked as an inspired man, preaching, lecturing, and writing daily. The complete edition of his papers runs into thousands of pages. He worked inconceivably hard, and yet in spite of all this, Luther managed to pray for an hour or two every day. He said he prayed because he had so much to accomplish. We are recipients of this hope, and in a world that is so corrupt and needy, we also need to pray.
We have plenty of people nowadays who could not kill a mouse without publishing it in the Gospel Gazette. Samson killed a lion and said nothing about it: the Holy Spirit finds modesty so rare that He takes care to record it. Say much of what the Lord has done for you, but say little of what you have done for the Lord. Do not utter a self-glorifying sentence! [C. H. Spurgeon, as quoted in The Shadow of the Broad Brim by Richard E. Day [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1976, repr.], p. 182).695
Christ’s prayer, “let this cup pass away from me” (Mat. 26:39), and Paul’s prayer that the “thorn in the flesh” might depart from him (2 Cor. 12:7, 8), were not answered in the precise way requested. No more are our prayers always answered in the way we expect. Christ’s prayer was not answered by the literal removing of the cup, because the drinking of the cup was really his glory; and Paul’s prayer was not answered by the literal removal of the thorn, because the thorn was needful for his own perfecting. In the case of both Jesus and Paul, there were larger interests to be consulted than their own freedom from suffering.
God’s Answer of Power and Grace
God’s Answer of Power and Grace
Grace
The believer who seeks to live the Christian life through self-effort is like the man who, in attempting to sail across the Atlantic Ocean, found his boat becalmed for days. Finally, frustrated by his lack of progress, he tried to make his stalled boat move by pushing against the mast. Through strenuous efforts, he succeeded in making the boat rock and so created a few small waves on the otherwise smooth sea. Seeing the waves and feeling the rocking of the boat, he assumed that he was making progress and so continued his efforts. Of course, although he exerted himself a great deal, he actually got nowhere.
So it is in the Christian life. The source of the Christian’s strength lies in God’s grace, not in exertions of will-power, or in efforts of discipline, or any other self-effort.607
Prayer
Scripture links power and weakness in a wonderful way, not as succeeding each other but as existing together. ‘I was with you in weakness … my preaching Was in power’ (1 Cor. 2:3); ‘when I am weak then am I strong’ (2 Cor. 12:10). The power is the power of God given to faith, and faith grows strong in the dark.… He who would command nature must first and most absolutely obey her.… We want to get possession of the Power, and use it. God wants the Power to get possession of us, and use us.”
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 a thorn 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 passeth understanding, which shall keep your heart and mind by Christ Jesus. O, that some would trust in Jesus this morning. Go, brethren, and pray it may be so. The Lord grant it, for Christ’s sake. Amen.