GRACE SUFFICIENT—Numbers 33:50-56 and II Corinthians 12:1-10
I have always appreciated Robert Frost’s poem “The Death of the Hired Man” since first reading it as a junior in high school. Frost portrays three characters in his poem: Warren, a New England farmer; his wife Mary; and Silas their “hired man.” Silas has worked for Warren and Mary often through the years although leaving them frequently. He has now returned one final time to die at the only home he knows. In the course of their conversation Mary and Warren share their differing opinions about Silas. Warren has lost all patience with Silas, but Mary is compassionate. In their discussion as to how they will receive Silas this one last time the two share their feelings about home and family.
Warren remarks:
“Home is the place where, when you have to go there,
they have to take you in.”
Immediately Mary replies:
“I should have called it
something you somehow haven’t to deserve” [--Robert Frost, “The Death of the Hired Man,” 1914, ll. 122-5.].
There is no more beautiful expression of the meaning of God’s grace in my estimation than Mary’s definition of “home.” God’s love, forgiveness, and gift of eternal life are indeed things we do not deserve.
Grace is the undeserved favor God pours out upon us sinners. Although there is only one grace, it has many facets and can be described in numerous ways. There is no more appropriate way to describe God’s grace than in the title of John Newton’s immortal hymn, because His grace is awesomely “Amazing.”
We might look at two aspects of God’s “Amazing Grace” in terms of “Initiating Grace” and “Enabling Grace.” Initiating grace refers to how we are admitted into the family of God; we “are saved by grace through faith” [Ephesians 2:8-9]. We might describe this as God’s grace towards us. Enabling grace, however, refers to how we are empowered by the Holy Spirit for service in His Kingdom. Enabling grace is God’s grace at work within us [W. T. Purkiser, Richard S. Taylor, and Willard H. Taylor, God, Man, and Salvation (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1977), pp. 410-413.]. It is His grace which enables us to serve Him that we want to explore this morning in our text from II Corinthians 12:7-10:
“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But 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. 10That 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.”
God’s “Amazing Grace” at work within me empowers me to live in victory even though my life is often full of thorns. What exactly does that mean for our walk and witness as Christian disciples today?
What does the Scripture mean by a “thorn in the flesh?” Let’s begin to answer that question by taking a closer look at our Old Testament Lesson. In Numbers 33:55 the Lord Himself speaks through Moses to warn the Israelites what will befall them if they do not “drive out all the inhabitants” from the Land of Cana: “But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell.” People can become “thorns in our sides.” As I keep sharing with you from time to time, I so appreciate my wife Liz’s honest testimony, “I could really be a good Christian if it were not for people.”
We all have to deal with difficult people in our lives, not only in our daily society but oftentimes in the Church as well. We all remember the times we have been tormented by people who are obnoxious, overbearing, inconsiderate, rude, arrogant, malicious, belligerent, aloof, thoughtless, uncaring, self-centered, egotistical, selfish, annoying, domineering, haughty, insolent, authoritarian, bossy, offensive, judgmental, vulgar, rude, or just plain hateful. Yes, people can be a thorn in the side or a thorn in the flesh.
Recall those words of Moses in Numbers 33:55, “those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in our sides.” In Light Through an Easter Window, K. G. Pillai makes this observation concerning this text: “When used as a figure of speech, a thorn in the flesh always refers to irritating or bothersome people” [--K. G., Light Through an Eastern Window (New York: Robert Speller and Sons, 1963), p. 109.].
God’s grace is sufficient to deal with “irritating or bothersome people” no matter where we may encounter them and how often that may be, but we can never deal with them in a kind, Christlike, loving, understanding, forgiving, graceful, gentle manner in our own strength and power. The Psalmist reminds us in Psalm 145:8:
“The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in love.”
As Christian Disciples under the control of the Holy Spirit God expects us to: “Follow His (i. e. God’s) example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” [Ephesians 5:1-2]. This means that no matter how irritating or bothersome people we encounter become, we are to be gracious and compassionate to them, slow to anger and rich in love.”
Those who have been forgiven by God’s grace are gracious to everyone by the power of the Holy Spirit. Living by Colossians 4:6 we are to “Let [our] conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that [we] may know how to answer everyone.” I like how the New English Bible translates this same verse: “Let your conversation be always gracious, and never insipid; study how best to talk with each person you meet.” No matter how badly others may treat us, we must rightly represent God by “being gracious in all our relationships.” By His power at work in us we can show goodwill and loving kindness at all times. Our words and reactions must always be merciful, kind, and forgiving no matter how harshly we have been personally treated. Those who have been “saved by grace” treat everyone else graciously following the example of Jesus.
Thorns in the flesh are not limited only to difficult people. The word in our text from II Corinthians refers to a “thorn” or a “splinter” that one may get in the foot or finger, something that in Biblical times had to be removed medically by plasters or ointments. Once again K. G. Pillai observes: “The picture is that of a barefoot plowman who gets a thorn in his foot. Due to the lack of modern methods of sterilization, he finds it safer to leave it in than to pull it out. So he limps along for a couple of weeks until a thick layer of skin has formed around it; then he will cut it out safely with a knife” [K. G. Pillai, Light Through an Eastern Window (New York: Robert Speller and Sons, 1963), p. 109.]. The imagery for Paul was of something that could not be easily pulled out, something that would continue to cause physical pain.
For each of us a “thorn in the flesh” may bring either emotional or physical pain. Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” has never been specifically identified. Calvin thought it referred to spiritual temptations alluring Paul to forsake his call to ministry. Those of us whom God has called to full time ministry can relate to that so well. Let me tell you from experience that the loneliest homes in any community are the parsonages of the local Churches. Nobody but a pastor and his or her family can even begin to understand the emotional pain it is “living in a fish bowl” and “being all things to all people.” Even though I could not be happy or fulfilled in another career, you don’t know how many times “I have resigned from the pulpit of the Church” come Monday morning and how many brothers and sisters in the clergy do so continually. Luther looked at Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” as being the Jews, Romans, and others who so often persecuted him and opposed his ministry.
“The thorn in the flesh” for Paul, most likely was something physical in mature, something that would cause him physical suffering periodically by recurring from time to time but would not continually interfere with his ministry. It would leave him periodically but return at intervals to cause him additional anguish. In between attacks Paul could do his daily work, ministry, and routine with relative ease.
Several physical ailments have been suggested as Paul’s possible thorn. Perhaps he suffered from epilepsy as have many noted historical figures including Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte. Epileptic attacks occur at varying intervals and are painful. In the entire ancient world epilepsy was attributed to demonic forces. The common reaction from people who witnessed one enduring an epileptic seizure was to spit upon the epileptic in order to ward off the demon from attacking them as well. Galatians 4:14 hints this may have been the case with the Apostle Paul. Paul rejoices that in Galatia, “Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn.” Literally these words mean, “Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not spit on me.”
Poor eyesight has often been suggested as well. In Galatians 6:11 Paul says, “See in what large letters I am writing to you.” Writing in large letters would suggest poor vision. It could be possible Paul never fully recovered his eyesight after his blinding encounter with our exalted Lord on the Road to Damascus.
The oldest suggestion of all has been that Paul often suffered from severe headaches, perhaps similar in nature to migraines. These may have been caused by a malarial fever that was prevalent around the Eastern Mediterranean during New Testament times. These malarial headaches would recur chronically from time to time. They were caused by a high fever and be so sever that the one suffering such an attack would feel as if a “red-hot bar had been thrust through his forehead.”
I believe the Holy Spirit purposely does not tell us the exact cause of Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” as a real spiritual serendipity for you and me. It’s like a personal message from Jesus to each one of us: “My child, whatever your thorn in the flesh happens to be, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, because My strength, My power, is made perfect in weakness.’” Having undergone three surgeries for kidney stones between the Fourth and the Twentieth of July of this year, I can name you without any hesitation my personal thorn in the flesh, but praise Jesus, I can absolutely testify that He showed me beyond any doubt the absolute truth of Andrae Crouch’s lyrics:
“. . .in every situation God gave blessed consolation
That my trials come to only make me strong.”
[--Andrae Crouch, “Through It All” (Manna Music, Inc., 1971)].
Whatever your “thorn in the flesh happens to be,” my brother or sister, I can reassure you, “The grace of Jesus Christ is sufficient for you, because His strength, is made perfect in weakness.”
God’s grace is all we need in any situation—in enduring any kind of emotional or physical pain or in dealing with all kinds of difficult, harsh, and irritating people. Whatever the circumstances happen to be for us, we can exhibit the same gracious, loving, and forgiving spirit Jesus has poured out on us. God does not always remove the “thorn” in the flesh, but He will change the attitude and the spirit of the one inflicted by the thorn. My grace is sufficient literally means, “My grace is enough.” My grace is all you need. No matter, my child, how difficult the circumstance or the people become, you can depend upon the Holy Spirit to give you all the strength you need to “walk in the way of love as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us” [Ephesians 5:1-2], and He’ll give you the exact amount of strength you need, no more and no less.
I was really touched on Friday, August 6, 2004, by an obituary in the Decatur Herald-Review for twenty-five year old Sarah Beth Thursby, former resident of Decatur. Sarah was not a Christian; she was of the Jewish faith and former member of Temple B’nai Abraham in our city. Her obituary, however, is a powerful testimony that God’s grace is all His children need in any situation. Listen to just a portion of it: “On August 4, 2004, Sarah Beth Thursby, our precious gift from God, lost her battle with a rare, aggressive cancer. Sarah was serene to the end, blessed with an inner peace that she shared with all who knew her, comforting others even as they were grieving her passing. Her body dying, Sarah’s spirit was strong and vibrant and full of joy. Sarah laughed and sang and danced as best she could up until the end.” [--Family Members, “Sarah Beth Thursby,” Decatur (Illinois) Herald and Review, 06 August 2004, D3.]. May the same testimony always be truthfully given by our friends and family for each one of us as Jesus empowers us through His Holy Spirit to victoriously overcome our own “thorn in the flesh.” “His Grace is all sufficient” for each one of us, and He is all we need.
