FBC Morning Light – May 25, 2022

Well, a good Wednesday morning to you. Here we are in the middle of the week already, this last full week of the month of May. We're getting ready to head into the summer months and I enjoy this time of year, enjoy the transition when things are warming up and you can get outside and go outside in your shirt sleeves instead of a jacket or coat, so it's a good time of year.

Near-Death Stories and Why People Promote Them

Well, have you ever heard those stories of people who had a near-death experience or even thought they were dead and they came back and told a story about having gone to heaven and they're telling everybody about what that was like, what the experience was and so on and so forth.

How come you heard about those stories? Why did you hear about them? Well, because the people who supposedly had the experience wanted to make a point to let everybody know that they had the experience, right?

There was one of these instances a few years ago when a boy, a child, supposedly had such an experience and he was in an accident, I believe it was an automobile accident, and supposedly, quote, died and went to heaven, but came back and then told his dad at the bedside in the hospital what his experience was.

His dad went and broadcast about what this experience was and so on and so forth. They ended up making a movie out of it, writing a book about it, just a plethora of stuff to promote this experience that this child supposedly had.

Then after all was said and done, come to find out it was all embellished and most of it was just made up. What's interesting is, though they never really had such an experience, the Apostle Paul did.

Paul's Third Heaven Experience and Refusal to Boast

He did have such an experience, and he talks about it in 2 Corinthians 12, but he doesn't talk about it as his own experience. That fits in with what he said at the end of chapter 11, when he said in verse 30, if I'm going to boast, I'll boast of the things concerning my infirmity.

Then in chapter 12, he says, I want to talk about this man that I knew 14 years ago, whether in the body or out of the body, I don't know, God knows, but such a one was caught up to the third heaven. He talks about this man, he speaks of it as in the third person, as if it's somebody else, somebody else's experience.

He says, I know such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I don't know, God knows. He was caught up into paradise and he heard inexpressible words, which is not lawful for a man to utter. He says, of such a one I will boast, yet of myself I will not boast except in my infirmities.

What's understood here is that Paul's really talking about an experience that he had, but he doesn't want to boast about it, he doesn't want to make it his thing, so everybody will laud him or make a big deal out of him for this experience.

He goes on in verse 6 to say, though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool. I'll speak the truth, but I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me. He says, this is why I'm not going to talk about this as my experience, because I don't want anybody to make a big deal out of me, in contrast to the books that have been written by the people who supposedly had died and gone to heaven and came back to life experience.

The Thorn in the Flesh and God's Answer of Grace

Then in verse 7 he goes on to say, lest I should be exalted above measure. To keep me from becoming proud and exalting myself over this experience that I had, he says, a thorn in the flesh was given to me.

I don't think we appreciate this enough, the fact that as one means of keeping us humble, the Lord may send or allow the wicked one to send some kind of a thorn in the flesh that is just an ongoing difficulty, an ongoing challenge in our physical life.

It may be in our body, it may be in our material life in some way, but the Lord either sends or allows the wicked one to send a thorn in the flesh. Paul speaks of this thorn in the flesh as a messenger of Satan to buffet me, to give me a hard time, to keep causing me pain or anguish or something of that nature.

He said, this was given to me lest I should be exalted above measure. It was given to me to keep me humble. We can have these thorns in the flesh as well. Do you have one? I've got more than one, I think, that I have to deal with.

The thing about these thorns in the flesh is that we do what we can to eliminate them, but we can't. We pray to God, please take this thorn in the flesh away, please take it out of my flesh. We appeal to him to get rid of it for us.

Paul says, I prayed three times that the Lord would take this thorn away from me, but the Lord said, nope, not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. I thought God answered prayer. Yeah, he did. He answered the prayer.

He said, no, I'm not going to do it. You want to take it out of your flesh, but I'm not going to take that thorn out of your flesh, because I don't want you to get proud. I don't want you to be boastful.

This will keep you humble. What was Paul's thorn in the flesh? I don't know. He doesn't tell us. Some speculate. They theorize that he had a malady with his eyes, he had a problem with his eyesight, and he wanted his eyes cleared.

It may be, but there's no definitive answer to the question of what was that thorn in the flesh. I'm glad, aren't you? Because then we might conclude that if our thorn in the flesh isn't as bad as, or the same as, or it's worse than Paul's, then this passage wouldn't apply.

But he leaves it vague under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so that we might identify with this. The Lord will oftentimes allow us to have a thorn in the flesh and let it remain there, for one thing, to keep us humble, for another thing, to keep us dependent.

Christ's Strength Made Perfect in Weakness

Because the Lord goes on to Paul and says, my grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness. So Paul, realizing the thorn in the flesh, hearing the answer from the Lord, he says, therefore, most gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

I take pleasure in my infirmities, he says, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Rather than constantly battling with our thorns in the flesh and complaining about them and focusing all our energy and attention on those and woe-ism about these thorns in the flesh, maybe instead what we should do is appeal to our Lord to have his strength be made perfect in our weakness, that he compensates for our weakness with his strength, so that in the end, he might be glorified and that we might glorify him.

Let's give some thought to that. What are the thorns in the flesh that you'd like to get rid of but you haven't been able to and God hasn't taken them away? Shall we not let the Lord's strength be made perfect in our weakness?

A Prayer for Sufficient Grace in Our Weakness

Let's pray and ask God's grace that is sufficient to do just that. Our Father and our God, I pray today when we consider our own weaknesses, our thorns in the flesh, I pray that we would rest all the more in you and depend upon you all the more for your all-sufficient grace in our weaknesses.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, we'll have a good rest of your Wednesday. I trust the Lord will bless you in it. Good day.