The Lord Who Heals YouSýnishorn

Paul's Thorn

2 Corinthians 12: 9a. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness”. 

Many interpret ‘Paul’s thorn’ as an example of God refusing to heal Paul. Paul states that this thorn in the flesh was a messenger of Satan, a demonic spirit bringing spiritual warfare. The word ‘messenger’ is most often translated as ‘angel’ or ‘messenger’ but never ‘sickness’. It came to hinder Paul from communicating the gospel and the revelations he received. Wherever Paul went with the gospel, opposition rose up to buffet him, which basically means it sent blow after blow against him. It is good to note that his discussion of the thorn in the flesh is in context with experiencing trials (chapter 11) and not with sickness. 

In Galatians 4:13, Paul does speak of a physical infirmity, which is translated ‘weakness’ rather than ‘sickness’. He goes on to say in Galatians 4:15 that they would have plucked out their own eyes and given them to him. From this, some have formed the opinion that Paul had an eye disease that God refused to heal. However, Paul’s first visit to Galatia was directly after he had received the stoning at Lystra, where stones are directed at the victim’s head, clearly damaging the eyes. 

Many interpret Paul’s pleading for God to remove the thorn as God saying ‘no’. However, God doesn’t say ‘no’ but instead gives Paul a revelation on how to overcome, ‘My strength is made perfect in weakness’-strength being the Greek word ‘dunamis’ which translates as power. A revelation from God always precedes the release of His power, promises and provision. 

God did not remove the demon as Paul had requested but gave him His grace, or power, to overcome. So often we want to pray and have God just remove all of our problems for us, when what He wants is for us to take a hold of His power and authority to get a victory over the situation. Paul’s writings after this in Ephesians and Romans reveal the revelation he got about our authority over the powers of darkness.

God’s grace and mercy have always been to enable us to bear our persecutions and temptations. They are not intended for us to bear our sins and sicknesses which Jesus bore for us in our place.