The Thorn in the Flesh — Keith Daniel

Jeremiah and the Potter’s House

We read in Jeremiah 18, verse 1, The word, the word which came to Jeremiah, the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.

Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels, he wrought a work on the wheels, and the vessel, the vessel that he made of clay, the vessel that he made of clay was marred, was ruined.

In the hand of the potter, The vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter. So he made it again, he made it again, another vessel. As seemed good to the potter to make it, then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter?

Cannot I do with you as this potter, saith the Lord? Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, say, O ye in mine hand, O house of Israel, at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil?

I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them, and at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to build and to plant it, if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.

Now, therefore, go to, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I frame evil against you, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you.

Return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good, make your ways and your doings good. And they said, and they said, But what do the nations say when God cries out that he wants to spare them if they turn from their wickedness?

And they said, There is no hope, there is no hope, there is no hope, but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. Verse 18, verse 18,. Then said they, then said they, Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet.

Come and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words. I would like for us, I would like for us to look very carefully and caringly at the life and ministry of a disillusioned preacher.

I would like for us to look very carefully and caringly at the life and ministry of a disillusioned preacher in a decadent, doomed nation. And perhaps it would be good for us to all look back to the beginning.

Jeremiah’s Call Before Birth

Jeremiah looked back to when God had first called him to preach, and he wrote in chapter 1, verse 4,. Then the word of the Lord came to me, then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee.

Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nation. Then said I, Ah, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak, I cannot speak, for I am a child.

But the Lord said unto me, Say not I am a child, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faith, for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.

Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my word, I have put my word in thy mouth. Years later, years later, deep into his ministry, in chapter 15, verse 15, a disillusioned, bitter, confused, and spiritually wounded priest who stands before the God who sent him and prays, Oh, thou knowest, thou knowest, thou knowest.

Remember me, remember me, and visit me, visit me, visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors. Take me not away in thy long suffering. Know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. For thy sake I have suffered rebuke.

Thy words were found, thy words were found, and I did eat them, I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart. For I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. I saith not in the assembly of the mockers, I saith not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced.

I saith alone because of thy hands, for thou hast filled me with indignation. Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar? Wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?

Therefore thus saith the Lord, the next verse says. Well, what can God say to a man in such a state as this? What can God say to a man in such a state as this? Therefore thus saith the Lord. If thou return, if thou return, then will I bring thee, and thou shalt stand before me.

And if thou take forth the precious from the vile, if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth. This verse 19, what is God saying to Jeremiah? Therefore thus saith the Lord.

If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me. And if thou should take, if thou should take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth. One of the greatest theologians in the history of the Church, one of the greatest theologians in the history of the Church says that the most accurate interpretation of this verse, the most accurate interpretation of this verse would read like this.

Therefore thus saith the Lord to Jeremiah. If you give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair, cleansing your own heart from unworthy suspicions concerning God's faithfulness, thou shalt be as my mouth.

If you give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair, cleansing your own heart from unworthy suspicions concerning God's faithfulness, thou shalt be as my mouth. But if you don't, I cannot use, I will not use.

Jeremiah’s Distrust and God’s Faithfulness

I want you all to take careful note here. I want you all to take careful note here. God does not come to this man and say, O Jeremiah, I am going to take out of your life and circumstances all the things that hurt you, the things that you feel I should never have allowed to come upon your life in the first place.

No, God does not do that. God does not say that. These things were never meant to destroy you or your faith and trust in me, child. But I allowed them. I allowed them. The Apostle Paul realized why God allowed these things in his life.

Paul’s Thorn and the Sufficiency of Grace

And he wrote in 2 Corinthians 12 verse 7,. Unless I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations,. Unless I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, to buffet me, that I should be exalted above measure.

For this thing I besought the Lord, Christ, that it might depart from me. He said unto me, He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

In weakness? In weakness. In weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities,. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon thee.

Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessity, in persecution, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong. When I am weak, then am I strong. Jeremiah sank.

He sank in despair and bitterness. He sank in despair and bitterness in his difficulties and troubles. But Paul, in the same difficulties, wrote in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 8,. We are trouble on every side.

Don't put your head into the ground and think that this is not going to happen to you, child. Let's preach truth now. If you're going to go through with God. We are trouble on every side, yet not distressed, yet not distressed.

We are perplexed, we are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in my body, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

Gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches, in necessities and persecutions and distresses, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I strong, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

Understanding the Thorn in the Flesh

Beloved, it seems that God is cruel. It seems that God does something cruel to every one of us, but every single one of us, God gives a thorn in the flesh, a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet us.

Do you know what the word buffet means? To hit us so hard, continually, right through life, that it simply makes us lose balance, that it makes us stagger from standing, which we are hit so that we stagger and unable to stand firmly.

And God allows it. God allows the thorn in the flesh. That seems cruel to us, doesn't it? At first thought, the thorn in the flesh to handicap us, to set us back, to slow us down, to drive us to despair at first.

Do you know, when I was a young boy, a little boy, we lived on the outskirts of the city. Daddy didn't like the city, so he built a house right on the outskirts. There was what we call the bush in our country, bordering on jungle, forest, dense trees, teeming with these teams of baboons and monkeys all swinging through.

And we, as children, used to go right into these big forests, you would call it, I suppose here, I don't know, but dense different trees, what you have. We would go in, and we had little tracks, you know, as boys, little paths that the monkeys and the baboons used to use.

And we knew those paths through all the density of our forest. And as little children, we would go deep, deep, deep into those places, running, sometimes low, just to get through. But we knew, like the back of our hands, that at one stage of my life, when I was small, that was our playground, running through these forests.

One day, as we were running, I was running, but my foot went onto a plank that we didn't know was there, which had been in a box, which had a long nail still in it. And this plank, this piece of wood, with this long, dirty nail, as I ran, went right through my foot, right through.

And the blood just squirted, and I fell down. And I began to cry and weep and scream in agony and pain. I couldn't walk. I couldn't walk one step. They couldn't even pull the plank out with the nail right through there to leave it in.

And I couldn't stand. You know what the little boys did? They all started crying. Everybody's crying, and they picked me up. Four of them, I think. Terrible, undignified way to be carried. And they ran, crying, Ah!

And we were all screaming. And here's this big nail through my foot, and they eventually came to where the big setup was by the houses. And what you would call a pharmacy, I don't know, we call it a chemist.

Like a little clinic, because to go right into the center of the town would be too far to get to the hospital. And there was this fellow who always tended us boys if we went wrong, hurt ourselves, and he lay me down there on this big counter.

Oh, he was a bit shocked too. Eventually was treating and pulling it out and antiseptic, anything to try and just help me. But there, I wasn't able to walk. I had to be carried. But the thorn in the flesh now, think of this, is not like that.

You can walk. You can walk. But it hurts. It hurts. It's not easy. There's something, you're conscious of all the time. If only it wasn't there, I could walk with no difficulty. I could walk as I want to.

But there's something there now that causes hurt every time I try and walk. It slows me down, handicaps me. It's a handicap in my life that I cannot walk like I want to. It's a thorn in the flesh. You're conscious of it all the time.

You can't switch off and say it's not there. Every time you try to walk. Why does God do that to every one of us? Something that initially in our Christian walk drives us to despair that this thing is in our life, that we cannot walk.

We cannot walk as we want to for God's glory. And we get around like Paul and we cry out not once but three times, not just three words. Three sessions he set aside his life in despair crying to God to please God.

Please deliver me from this thing. Please God. Don't let me go through life like this, handicapped from the walk I want to walk. Held back, set back. Then God begins to whisper in our hearts at some stage something we least expect to every single one of us.

My grace is sufficient for these desires for my sense is made perfect in weakness. Now that's a staggering blow to the intellect when you first begin to think of it, let alone accept it. God you want me to be weak?

All my life you want me to know weakness? Oh beloved, greatness is not attained by wisdom of learning or gifts that we have attained or have in our natural ability. True greatness in God's school is born in suffering men do not like to hear that.

But until you're willing to open your ears to what God cries out along the pages of his book you will never be able to be resignated. First in Paul's experience there was desperation. Then there was revelation.

Then there was resignation. Beloved, every single one of you are going to find that in your experience. There will be desperation in every single one of you no matter who you are concerning what God allows in your life that you don't think should be there.

That you cry out in despair for God to deal with and get it out of your life. Please God, not once again and again desperately seeking God. There will be desperation concerning the soul and the flesh in every one of you as there was with Paul.

And then as a result there will be revelation such as what God is saying this morning from the basis of man who learned who learned God's heart. After desperation there will be revelation to you. There must be resignation.

God, if this is what makes me truly in thy sight strong not the way I think what I should be strong but what thou dost want me to be for thy strength to be made perfect in my weakness then I resign to this most gladly therefore will I rather glory in mine infirmity as a resignation suddenly from this man who is desperate.

Physical, Character, and Psychological Thorns

I want to read some things to you here. I want you all to listen carefully to what God says to you as individuals and each one is going to speak to you differently so listen to when it comes to you. I could never have written this 30 years ago not even 20 years ago.

I would say 10 years ago. Please don't wait all those years before you here before you become resigned to the revelation of God. The thorn in the flesh is different from other people around us in my life.

Don't ever doubt that. To some people a thorn in the flesh is physical. You have been given something which was set back and handicapped which you must bear all your life child but that's where greatness has come out in you that I could trust you with this that I wasn't able to trust others with it was not my disregard of you it was not my cruelty it was that I saw in you an ability to be able to take this thorn in the flesh that others would never ever have accepted and would have got to hate me for but in this I have brought in you greatness greatness that everyone else that comes near you can't possess.

Don't doubt my will and my way my thoughts are not your thoughts my ways are not your ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

It will take you years to understand but trust me child I knew I could trust you with what I gave you that would be such that it would drive you to despair at first. This is how I was to make greatness in you child.

To some people the thorn in the flesh is physical. To others the thorn in the flesh is something about your character that you become conscious as a deep setback where people misunderstand you constantly because of this thing in you that you have to seek God for grace all your life.

I met a lady whose husband was the head of one of the largest missionary societies in the world and because she had authority over ladies especially she had to be outspoken. Sometimes somebody had to confront people about the wrongs and the compromises and anything else that needed to be checked to keep things going as a mission.

But this woman was feared eventually because she had a character that seemed harsh and straight. People didn't play the fool. If she was around they normally trembled. I remember looking at this dear lady and loving her because I saw the twinkle in her eyes.

Sometimes I didn't tremble thank God I just loved her for it and she loved me for seeing it. You know one day that lady testified in her old age toward the end of her over 50 close to 60 years of serving God as a missionary with her husband and she shook my heart to what she said that last time she spoke wisdom cry out to us she said.

You know I looked at another Christian who was so gentle he never raised his voice. He was so full of love he never got angry at anything. Anybody did wrong. He just laughed. And I thought to myself why can't I be like him.

This is what it is to be sanctified. This is what it is that God wants. If only I could have this man's character gentleness and an inability to say a strong word. People wouldn't misunderstand me like this and be fearful of me.

She was a real angry woman she said. But then God whispered to me one day child that man was born with that character. You were born with this character. You inherited it from your mother. Think of it now.

She brought back to her mother's womb mommy was just like this and then she said she came to the place where she realized all her life she has this trait in her character that is not a deliberate sin or defiance of God.

But she said she realized she had to come to the cross daily and bow down so low lower than most people would ever have to concerning their characters to find grace daily to carry them through to be Christlike in spite of the strong character that God had given her.

She said she wept daily very few days in her life and testament that she didn't weep before God about this thing where she was being misunderstood. The thorn in the flesh sometimes is physical to others the thorn in the flesh is something about your character.

You become conscious. You're a deep step back where people misunderstand you continually. And you have to go before God and draw more grace and strength and weight at his feet at the foot of the cross weeping much more than others.

To others the thorn in the flesh is psychological. I want you to listen carefully. Not many preachers will be willing to acknowledge this to others the thorn in the flesh is psychological. You could have a negative character a hypersensitive spirit that the devil plays chaos with.

He aims at it always to stagger you through the insensitivity and harshness and cruelness of other people who don't know that you are wounded by the way they think. You have to have this thorn in the flesh this psychological thing that you have to come for grace and healing continually before God getting the comfort of the word of God a hundred times more than another man or woman who do not hurt at the insensitivity of other people who abrase it as you do to others the thorn in the flesh can be a person like John Wesley his wife drove him to despair.

That's possible brother. That's possible sister. About a man you might be. It isn't your choice at some point what that man chose to become or what that woman chose to be in the house in spite of God's commandment.

But it's possible. And it's tragic that God sometimes has to allow it. And out of it comes the greatest man of God that ever preached in England's history that stopped revolution that brought the greatest survival in the nation of Israel.

And as a result a nation that sent more missionaries out into the world than any other nation in the history of the church. Or more bibles into the world than any other nation in the history of the church.

To one man who was given to the sparing of life itself to the woman he had to bear chose not to be godly. That God has the thorn in the flesh as a weakness that could lead. I do hope this is loud enough brother.

God has the thorn in the flesh as a weakness. Weakness in you that could lead to some moral failure where most preachers in the world wouldn't wouldn't allow themselves to send it from the cross. It may be something in your past that the devil accuses you of and continually fills you with fear in your heart about again and again that something happened in your past that you cannot change.

You can't rid it, you can't block it out. You want God to block it out. Now you're going to do it with God. Now you're going to do it with God. Why am I trying to come up with something that's impossible?

In my weak moment people lean on God to protect me. And it's just because you've done it right now that I don't believe in something like this. It drives you to lean on God that you could never stand up in boldness.

Because these other men have when they look out and preach and you stand in brokenness. But because of that thorn in the flesh there's greatness. Because brokenness there is greatness. Not you breaking yourself but of God's brokenness is a beautiful thing.

Brother, sister. But now I want you to be careful to remember this all your life. What to one person is truly a thorn in the flesh that drives them to despair is not necessarily a thorn in the flesh to another person.

Learning from Moody’s Different Burden

D .L. Moody. You all heard of the great D .L. Moody. Oh he shook the world. He brought Scotland back to God. He brought Queen Mary and King George to God. He brought Chicago to God. He was one of the greatest soul winners of the five greatest soul winners in the history of the church.

Moody was. But listen to Moody you must remember what to one person is truly a desperately hurting thorn in the flesh is not necessarily a thorn in the flesh to another person. Moody was walking along the streets of Chicago one day and he had this hat on and he was looking down.

Terrible. Christians are supposed to look up. And Moody was looking down and he was worried and he was grieving. Do you know why? What was he thinking? Why has nothing gone wrong for two weeks? I'm worried.

Is the devil not worried about me anymore? Goodness me. I wish I went through two weeks without anything going wrong. But here's old Moody now is something wrong with me? The devil's not worried about two weeks.

He's walking now. He's getting more and more worried as he thinks about it. Suddenly there's a man standing the other side of the road in a tramway terminal waiting for the tram there in Chicago. And this uncouth coarse man looks.

And he sees and recognizes.

There's that mad fool Moody. That's terrible. There's that mad fool Moody. Look there. He is the fanatic Moody looked up.

And he took his hat off and he threw it in the air and he jumped and he said hallelujah. The devil still hates me. Well that must have confounded the devil. Rather that would have smitten me. If a man ever shouted across the streets at me like that I would have been crawling and woo-waggling.

But what. To one person beloved. A thorn in the flesh is not necessarily a thorn in the flesh to another person. So don't expect anyone else to be identifying with your thorn in the flesh. Only God. And you have an understanding of what it's costing you and why God has allowed it eventually and not taken it out of your life.

The Old Testament as Instruction for Believers

Listen to this. The vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter that was speaking about a nation. But do you know that the whole Old Testament was never ever meant to be history to be read as history it is history.

It is perfect history recorded. But God only allowed it to be recorded for you and me. Every word brother every promise in the book is mine every warning. The dealings of God to the Old Testament you the nation are the dealings of God.

They give me an understanding of the heart of God and his dealings to me. When I whisper the grief it causes him when I rebel when I send all these warnings of God's grief and heart are to you and me as individuals.

His promises if I stay faithful and true the blessing will be to my children are written to you and me in the light of all scriptures. Beloved. There is nothing in the Old Testament in its context. First we must understand but somehow understand it was written for you and beloved.

How many of us. Maybe not Israel. But what God says there is by the Holy Ghost reaching to your heart. The vessel that God has been making molding marred do you know what the word means? Ruined in the hand of the potter.

So he made it again. Another vessel that seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying O house of Israel cannot I do with you as this potter say the Lord. Behold as the clay is in the potter's hand so are ye in my hand.

O house of Israel. How many of us we are ruined. The work of God has been ruined and destroyed. Why? Because we couldn't accept that it was God in control leaving this in our lives. And so we have lost hope and faith and courage.

And we become bitter. And instead of God accomplishing greatness in our lives what has he? A ruined vessel. And he longs. He longs for us for resignation in our desperation that the revelation he gives will bring resignation.

That the potter can have the clay yield it yield it. Thou art the potter. I am the clay. O God have thy way. How many of you need desperately to do that. Beloved. If you take forth the precious from the vile not just Jeremiah.

If you give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair cleansing your own heart from unworthy suspicions concerning God's faithfulness you shall be as my mouth Jeremiah what I intended for you to be.

But if you don't I cannot use you. I will not use you. Beloved whatever God is saying to you what he willed for your life. I cannot do it child. If you don't give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair and what I've allowed whether it's persecution or infirmities physical weaknesses and setbacks and handicaps.

Resignation to God’s Strength

Will you go through your life child fighting God about what he is leaving in your life till your dying day to bring greatness and instead of greatness will become bitterness. Will you from this day do something that will stagger the devil who has played havoc with you by accusing you that this thing is allowed in your life by accusing God of not dealing with it totally and ridding you of these things that you feel harm you and destroy you.

Will you go on fighting God's way which is not your way in spite of the revelation Paul gave us of why God allowed things in his life that brought out greatness. Or will you come to resignation this morning.

You see brother, sister if you had no infirmities no trials no sorrows no grief you would never once you would never have once in your Christian walk had to look away from your own strength knowing it's not going to carry you through and have to look in utter sincerity for the first time to God for strength, for his strength to be able to survive.

You would never once have proved the power of God in your life. If you didn't have these things and let me shock all of you God is going to bring every one of you to a place in the school of God where it's not just once you're driven to have to look away from your own strength knowing this cannot be enough and look to God for his strength to carry you through.

God will bring you to the place eventually that every step you take in life you know you have to look away from what you've got to take another step again. You know it must be God's grace. And when God gets that right in your life, beloved you may feel base, weak, despised but let me tell you there won't be a soul on earth that doesn't see in your life greatness, greatness that made you let go.

Surrendering Through “Have Thine Own Way”

Can we stand, please can we in this sacred moment in quietness please please let it be sacred. I always get lost in your indexes. I can't even find the index. Let alone find the number. Have you got such a thing as have thine own way, Lord have thine own way.

Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Now every one of you be careful. Here we sing hymns, you know most of them become a great rebuke to heaven as we sing them because we don't sing them to God. And God in heaven wonders if only you had been singing that just once in your life you prayed that prayer from your heart not just to harmonize not just for others to hear you.

If only you just once in your life prayed that from your heart, child. Imagine what I could have done. Most of the prayers we sing. God would have sent revival long ago if it had come from our hearts.

That's not a rebuke that's a challenge. I dare you, sir. I dare you, lady don't sing to anyone else just to God here every word now but sing it in resignation. Have thine own way, Lord have thine own way.