A thorn in the flesh

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure - 2 Corinthians 12.7

Paul had been through a lot. He had endured a lot. He had stuck with it through thick and thin. He had endured through all these struggles and stayed faithful. 

It looked like a super Christian. And he might have been tempted to believe it. 

But God knew that Paul, like any of us, was inclined to pride. He might think that because of his successes and his victories he might be ‘exalted above measure.’ 

So God allowed Paul to receive a  'thorn in the flesh.' Despite hundreds of years of conjecture and debate no one knows what that 'thorn' was. Some think it was his poor eyesight. Some think it was his battle with pride. Some think this and some think that, but no one knows. No one. 

But there was something that troubled him. Three times he asked God to deliver him from his thorn, but it continued. 

I don't know all the ways a thorn in flesh manifests itself. But I do know that sometimes God allows us to deal with areas in our lives that we just can't seem to get past. 

If God allows them to continue there are there for a purpose. We may not know it, but we can trust that God knows what he is doing. If we try to deal with our thorns and pray for God to deliver us and the thorns continue perhaps we need to look for what God is trying to allow us to learn.