II Corinthians 12:7b-10 (NIV) Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That 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.
We do not know what Paul’s thorn was, but we do know how it affected his life. It hurt, and added to the hurt, it cripples Paul’s enjoyment of life. It limited him and kept him from doing and accomplishing all that this energetic man wanted to do. I believe the thorn represents all suffering which comes to us from the world, over which we have no control and from which we have little or no deliverance.
Paul’s ultimate response to his suffering was that for the sake of Christ he was content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties. For when he was weak, then he was strong. Paul’s ultimate response to his suffering was to accept it.
To understand what it means to accept our suffering, we need also to understand what acceptance does not mean. Rebellion is the refusal to accept it. Rebellion is seen in the person who shakes his fist in the face of God and cries out, ”Why me? What did I do to deserve this? What kind of God are you to allow such suffering anyway?” Rebellion is also seen in a false optimism that says, “I can lick this thing. It won’t get me down,” when we know in reality that we cannot lick this thing and there are times when it does get us down. Rebellion against healing seldom leads to any kind of healing and usually leads to a tremendous sense of defeat or bitterness.
Acceptance of suffering is different from resigning ourselves to it. Resigning ourselves to suffering is giving up, quitting, retreating in the face of overwhelming odds. Nowhere in the Scriptures do we find this attitude toward suffering. Jesus stood squarely against suffering. He saw suffering as evil and opposed to God.
To accept our suffering, to have God’s shalom in the midst of the pain, and despite the limitations placed on us by our suffering is the Christian response to suffering. We may go through rebellion and resignation to get there, but acceptance is the ultimate Christian response to suffering. This acceptance is sometimes a turning point that leads to healing, and always leads to a transformation of our life. Paul was not healed of his thorn, but he received a new sense of humility and tenderness in his life. Those who accept suffering are alive despite the pain they have known in their lives, and to be around them is a blessing.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope November 17, 1974
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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