God's Grace is Sufficient! 2 Corinthians 12

2 Corinthians 12:7 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.

Often the question is asked, "Where is God in suffering?"  Or, "Why doesn't God answer my prayer for healing?"  The way Paul dealt with what he calls, "the throne in the flesh", gives us some great insight.

The first question usually asked is, "What was Paul's thorn in the flesh?"  Answer: We don't know!  But I think we can make some educated guesses based on some observations.

1. We know most of the context of this letter is dealing with Paul defending himself from the Corinthians portrayal of him as not a "true apostle".  

2. Paul talks in the beginning of chapter 12 about an ecstatic spiritual experience where he was caught up in the third heavens.  This could have been something he could have used to try and prove his case to the Corinthians, but God had a different plan in mind. 

3. Paul says that the reason he was given the "thorn in the flesh" was to keep him from getting conceited in the flesh.  

4. Whenever Paul uses the term "flesh", he is talking about the sinful nature which is typified by a focus and overestimation of self.  

So, we could say that his thorn in the flesh, was a sinful behavior or pattern that reminded him that he was no better than anyone else, including his distractors.  It kept him humble and reliant upon God's grace instead of relying on his own sufficiency. The source of the temptation is no secret. It is Satan, the tempter.  Satan's main goal is to separate us from God and His power in our life.  

Instead of arguing with the Corinthians about how great he is, Paul teaches them a lesson in humility.   Paul teaches them that just because you are suffering doesn't mean  it is a punishment for something you have done wrong.  Suffering can come from many sources.  Our own sin, the devil, someone else's sin, or just plain being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  

Like most people who are suffering, Paul prays to have his suffering removed from him.  He doesn't ask God to remove it once, twice, but three times.  Whether it is a literal three times, or it represents continual and repeated prayers doesn't really matter.  The point is Paul prayed to have this thorn removed and God didn't remove it. 

For Paul this experience has taught him an valuable lesson that the Corinthians could certainly learn from.  The lesson is summed up by the words, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  

This is one of the most valuable and important verses in all of the scripture.  David Guzik's commentary on this verse is very helpful to understand what this phrase means,

"We really don’t believe God’s grace is sufficient until we believe we are insufficient. For many of us, especially in American culture, this is a huge obstacle. We are the people who idolize the “self-made man” and want to rely on ourselves. But we can’t receive God’s strength until we know our weakness. We can’t receive the sufficiency of God’s grace until we know our own insufficiency."

In what areas of your life are you tempted to be self sufficient?  Where has suffering in your life showed you God's sufficient grace?  Where do you need God's all sufficient grace in your life today?