Never Give a Sword to a Man That Can't Dance (Part I)

⁷ And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. ⁸ Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. ⁹ And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. – 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Paul says twice in this passage, “lest I be exalted above measure”.  He seems to be explaining this as a result of “the abundance of the revelations”.  He does not describe the revelations here.  My interpretation from this is that he is in such a constant contact with God regarding these writings, as he is writing to this church in Corinthians, that he is starting to walk “a little higher” than the ordinary men around him.  We would call this “getting the big head” back in Mississippi where I grew up.  Anytime a good athlete was getting a little too much praise and being a little too successful it was easy for them to start believing that the team’s success depended upon them and not too much on the other lesser athletes on the team.  In the book and movie, “Friday Night Lights”, this is exampled well by the character Boobie Miles. When asked why he didn't lift weights like the other members on his team he answers, "C'mon man.  This is God given.  The only thing I gotta do is show up."  Perfect example of the big head.

Back to Paul, here he writes with assurance that he is made to suffer in some way physically for a purpose that is not physical, but spiritual.  I am reminded of Job, he also suffered physical ailments for a spiritual purpose.  Who caused Job’s suffering?  It was Satan who was allowed to hinder him only under God’s watchful eye.  Who is causing Paul’s suffering?  “A messenger of Satan” he explains.  I can only surmise that this is a demon, again under God's watchful eye.

My mind immediately questions, “Why would God allow His child to suffer?”  Obviously a question asked by much more important people than me for many thousands of years before me.  The answer in this instance is for a spiritual lesson.  The result of the suffering is a child of God drawing closer to God with proper perspective and understanding of his (and our) relationship with his heavenly Father.  Part of me wonders if that is always the answer to why, I don’t think I’ll know until I get to heaven.  I do think I know that our task, as was Paul’s, is to trust Him in it, even if He doesn’t answer the prayer and remove the suffering as is Paul's situation, praying instead to learn His lesson to us and to grow closer to Him.  Job and Paul gained great wisdom and truth from their suffering (and some apparent humility also). 

Hopefully suffering won’t be always necessary, but may we be willing to learn as well.  The worst thing I can imagine would be to suffer and learn nothing thereby possibly necessitating the need to do it again.