Skip to content How to Understand a Thorn Aug 27 · 53 min ...more
August 27, 2020 · 53 min · Messages of Hope
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Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies.
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0:01 A dense fog covering 7 blocks to a depth of 100 feet is composed of less than 1 glass of actual0:13 water. A fog covering 7 blocks, so you can't see even 100 feet in front of you,0:25 because it's that thick, only has a glass or less of water that composes that much fog.0:38 You see, there are 60000000000 droplets that are spread out of particles settling over that 70:50 block area. But it can blot out your ability to see things clearly. Many today are living1:02 in a spiritual fog. They allow a cup full of trouble, irritation, or as our text tells us1:14 today, thorns. To cloud out their vision and dampen their spirits. How do you live in the sunshine1:25 when all you see is fog? Now, make no mistake about it. On a foggy day, the sun is shining. But1:37 the question is, how can such a little bit of water cause all of this confusion? In second1:48 Corinthians chapter 12 verses 7 through 10, where Paul discusses the thorn.2:00 In verse 7, he introduces us to it, the reality of a thorn. He says, because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting2:12 myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to buffet me. That's not buffet me.2:24 To trouble me, to torment me, to irritate me, to exacerbate me. Or to put it in everyday contemporary colloquial language,2:35 to get on my last nerve. The Greek word for thorn referred to a splinter or a needle2:47 of some kind that pricked you. We've all had a needle, a a thorn, or a splinter from wood to get in our finger2:59 or toe and irritate us. It could be used of a hook that catches a3:11 fish, piercing its its skin, of which it can't shake itself from without tearing and making3:23 things worse. A thorn is anything that nags or irritates your life on a3:35 continuous basis. A thorn is anything that nags, irritates, exacerbates, or frustrates your3:47 life ongoingly. You can't shake it. It hangs around.3:59 Paul says, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh. Something to irritate me. Now, you can read commentaries galore, and you'll have a4:11 lot of guesswork as to what Paul's thorn was. For example, Paul talks about how when he was trying to write the churches, he had trouble seeing. In4:23 fact, he had an emanuensis, a recorder who would write for him. And so some will say, well, it was his eye problem. But still4:35 others will say, well, he was always being followed by this group called the Judaizers, who were undermining his ministry. And so they were an irritation to him.4:47 Maybe it was that. Paul speaks of being lonely. He says, everyone has forsaken me. Some say it was loneliness.5:00 But the Bible never says what his thorn is. And that's good. It's good that he doesn't tell us what his thorn is so you can put your thorn in. Anything5:16 that irritates, nags, frustrates, exacerbates on a continuous level. In fact, he lays it open in verse 10. He says, it can be insults, distresses,5:28 persecutions, or difficulties. Some of you are having to deal with emotional thorns.5:40 Things that have to do with your feelings. You are are lonely. You perhaps have been single for an inordinate5:51 amount of time, and you are simply tired of being alone, and it pricks you, nags you,6:03 irritates you. Or perhaps it's depression that keeps popping up. You can't6:14 shake it. Maybe it's memories or regrets. When you look back over your life, you wish you could have done things differently, but you6:26 can't because that's history now. But you've not been able to shake it. It's an emotional thorn. Others have relational6:38 thorns, people who get on your nerves. They're popping up at the wrong time, which is any time they6:50 show up. This could be the person living in an unhappy marriage. They have no biblical grounds for divorce.7:04 So they feel stuck spiritually, but they are unhappy with needs not being met or other7:15 kinds of challenges. And so it's relationships or people that you work beside, you've been trying to get a new job, trying to get transferred, or praying that God would transfer them.7:29 And every day, you gotta look at that person, and it becomes an irritation. It's a relational kind of7:40 thorn. Others have financial thorns. A long time trying to find a job or the right job, and it's not coming7:52 through. Or perhaps you're stuck in an unhappy work situation. Or it looks like every time you try to get out of debt, just when you think you made it,8:04 something else breaks down. Something else shows up. And you can't shake this financial situation.8:19 I guess 1 of the worst thorns there is, are physical thorns. Disabilities, chronic illnesses, headaches that8:31 won't go away, things that are wrong with your body that are not healed. It's a thorn.8:44 Please notice this phrase in verse 7. There was given me a thorn. Now we could spend an hour on that.8:58 He says, my thorn was a gift. Well, take your gift back.9:10 He says, it was given me. And if you think that's bad, that God is giving away thorns.9:22 See, you don't hear about this too much today. You hear about how he giving blessings, money, cars, houses. But let me tell you something else he giving, thorns.9:37 There was given me a thorn in the flesh in my humanity, and look at the theology here, a messenger of Satan to buffet me.9:50 God gave me a thorn and let the devil deliver it. Yes. Come on. Work with that now. The thorn was handed10:02 to me, given to me. And you'll discover when you read your passage, by God. But the delivery service was a messenger of the You ever looked10:14 at a maybe you have a relational thorn, somebody in your life keeps getting on your nerves, you say, you ain't nothing but the devil. Well, you are partially10:25 right. But the gift came from God. Watch this then. Gotta talk10:37 theology. God is sovereign, meaning he's in charge. Nothing happens,10:49 and I mean nothing, no matter how tiny or big, that either is not caused by God, he made it happen,11:03 or allowed by God, he ok'd it happening. There is no third category like luck or chance11:15 or fate, words that ought not be part of any serious Christian's vocabulary. Because to have luck, chance, or fate is to deny sovereignty. It's to11:27 say, that got by God. You can't have an omniscient God who knows everything and something get by him.11:40 You say, but the devil is messing with me. If the devil is messing with you, God had to okay it. The the great11:52 biblical illustration here is Job. We all know Job. His life is falling apart. But when you read Job chapter12:03 1, God starts it off. God says to the devil in Job 1, have you considered my servant Job? I want you to12:15 think about Job for a little while, devil. Devil says, well, the only reason he's serving you is because you blessing him. Take away his blessings, he won't serve you. And then God tells the12:27 devil, go right ahead. I'm going to give Job the thorn, and you can deliver it.12:41 If the devil is messing with you, God ok'd it first. May mess with your theology.12:54 God approved it because God is sovereign. Let me say it another way. God uses the devil to13:06 do his dirty work. When God wants to keep his hands clean, because he's perfect, can't13:18 sin, and is apart from evil, he uses somebody with dirty hands. You ever called somebody to do13:30 something for you because you ain't wanna get your hands dirty? If God is gonna allow a dirty deed, he uses a dirty person. He13:42 says, it was given to me, but it was a messenger of the devil. Satan didn't get in the Garden of Eden13:53 without God allowing him to be there. The great question of theology is why would an all powerful God allow a14:04 lesser creature that he created, the devil, to do what he has done? Good question, especially when you use the word allow. See, the answer14:16 is in the question. The devil is not the devil. The devil is God's devil. He operates by permission.14:31 How do you know what you're facing is a thorn? Verse 8. Concerning this, I entreated the Lord 3 times that it might depart14:43 from me. If it's nagging you, irritating you, and getting on your nerves, you prayed about it, and God hadn't done anything about it, that's a thorn.14:57 Anybody got a thorn? Sticking you? Just needling you. Authority says to buffet me. That15:09 means to torment me or irritate me or frustrate me. Now watch this now. Watch this now. Many of15:21 us are trying to get rid of something God gave you. You say, well, if God gave it, how can15:33 it be so bad? Because the devil delivered it. Is what the text says? It was given to me.15:45 I prayed about it. I said, God, get rid of this thorn. It's sticking me. He says, I prayed15:57 3 times, because it was too irritating, frustrating. So I wasn't being carnal. I wasn't being sinful. I was talking to God. You you told me,16:09 preacher, to pray. I prayed. And I still got this thorn. Well, watch this now. If you pray about something, and you're a16:21 serious Christian, and a serious prayer, and it's a thorn, because it's irritating you, and God doesn't take it,16:33 that's because he's not finished with the gift. Because it's a gift. A thorn is a gift. It was given to me. So the question is16:45 now, why would God give me a gift like that? Something that nags me in perpetuity. Something that won't go away day after16:57 day, week after week, month after month, year after year. Why would a good God, and God is good all the time, and all the time God is good, why would a good God give me17:09 something to prick me like this? I don't deserve this. I deserve better. Back to verse 7.17:23 There are 2 reasons God gives you a thorn. Number 1, and because of the surpassing greatness of the revelation.17:35 The first thing the first reason, this is very important now, that God gives you a thorn is he wants to show you some new things.17:49 Let's look at Paul's revelation here in this chapter, verse 2. I know a man in Christ, Paul's talking about himself in the third person, who 14 years ago, whether in the body I18:01 do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows such a man was caught up to the third heaven. And I know how such a man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know, God knows, was caught up in18:12 the paradise and heard inexpressible words which a man is not permitted to speak. Now watch this. Paul is the only man in all18:24 of history who was taken to heaven, got to see heaven, and allowed to come back to earth to discuss it. He says he went18:36 to the third heaven. There are 3 heavens. There is the atmospheric heaven, where the clouds are, the oxygen is. There is the stellar heaven, the stars, the planets, the solar system.18:50 And then there is the throne room of God. Paradise. The place where every believer goes when they die. That's the third heaven. He says, I was taken to paradise.19:03 I like what he says. He he says, whether in the body or out of the body, I don't know. In other words, it was a dimension I'm not familiar with. It it19:15 was an experience that is unlike any experience I ever had. See see, I can't fully explain heaven to you. Because it operates in another19:27 dimension. It it operates outside of space, outside of time. He says, I cannot fully explain my state. I'm not sure how to articulate it. But this 1 thing I do19:39 know, what I saw up there, I cannot put words together to formulate. He calls it inexpressible. 119:53 of the reasons God gives you a thorn is because he wants to show you some new things. Things that go beyond what's normal for you.20:05 Things that go beyond what's average for you. So many Christians are satisfied with the normal. So they spend all their time trying to get20:17 rid of their thorns, complaining about their thorns, fussing and cussing about their thorns, asking why all day long when God is trying to show you something you never seen20:29 before. And the thorn is a necessary part of the revelation. When God gives you20:41 a thorn, he has something new, something unique. God is going to expand your anointing20:53 when he increases your thorn. Did you just hear me? God's got something in store for you21:05 when he gives you a thorn. So the good news is, if you've got a thorn, it's a gift from God, but because it hurts21:17 you, delivered by the devil, because the God who gave the gift that was delivered by the devil has got something in store for you.21:29 Thorns can come at the weirdest times. Jesus had this high event, this big event, baptized, the heavens opened. This is my son to whom I'm well pleased. The21:41 Holy Spirit descends like a dove. Rest on him. At his baptism, in Matthew 3, the next thing we see in Matthew 4 is the21:53 spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Did you get that? After this big celebration, the spirit, God the22:04 holy spirit, led Jesus into the wilderness for the devil to mess with him. That's a thorn. See, it happened to Jesus. This is this is a thorn. God led Jesus to be22:16 messed over by the devil. Because there was something big coming for Jesus. Magnificent.22:28 So easily we go from paradise to pain, glory to suffering, blessing to buffeting, ecstasy to agony because of the thorns.22:41 There's a second reason God gives a thorn. God's got something new he wants to show you. The second reason he gives a thorn is to keep you from exalting yourself.22:53 A thorn keeps you dependent. A thorn is to show you something new. But the problem is, without the thorn,23:07 when God shows you something new, your tendency and my tendency is to forget our need for the God who showed it.23:19 Have you ever noticed how the more blessed you are, the less sense of your need of God? But because God is gonna take you from here to here with a thorn,23:32 And he knows that that jump to this new expression he wants to show you will make it possible for you to forget him. He creates a23:43 thorn to make you dependent back on him. You see, Paul had revelation that no other man in history has ever had, and23:55 the tendency for the great apostle Paul was to exalt himself. Look at me, look at what I know. I'm the only 1 who went to heaven. Na na na24:07 na na. Look at what I've experienced. Look at who I am. Paul says, I I had that tendency to exalt myself. So what God did was24:19 he kept sticking a needle in me. Like putting a pin in a balloon to deflate my ever expanding ego.24:32 He says my problem was pride. Pride is the only disease that makes everyone sick except the 1 who has it.24:47 Reminds me of a lady. Reminds me of a lady who said, pastor, can I come? I need a counseling real bad. He said, certainly. She said, she went to the pastor's office. Said, pastor, I I got this sin I can't shake. This sin24:59 is messing with me, and I can't get rid of it. He said, what's the problem? He said, well, I come to church every Sunday, and I can't help thinking it. I think it every Sunday, and25:10 that's I'm the prettiest woman in the church. I I I am the prettiest woman in the church. I look at all the other ladies, and they can't even stand next to me.25:21 What should I do, pastor, about this sin? You say, honey, that's not a sin. That's a mistake.25:39 I tell you about frog. The frog, you know, had to cross the desert. And the frog was with 2 birds, and they25:51 couldn't figure out how to cross the desert. So the frog came up with a great idea. He said, look, look, you 2 birds, look. I got a stick here. And you put 1 end on your beak and 1 end26:03 on your beak, and then I'll grab it with my mouth. And you fly across the desert to get me across because I can't make it, but you can fly. So that way, I'll hold on in the middle while you hold it on your beak, you26:15 deliver me across the desert. Sounds like a good plan. The birds were more than willing to help. So they're flying at this high height. He comes. He's almost finished, almost across the desert.26:28 A guy looked up, and he says, oh my goodness. Look at this. 2 birds with a stick between them. And they're carrying the frog across the desert. What an ingenious idea.26:41 He said, woah. I wonder who came up with that idea. Fraud said, I did.26:57 The second reason for a thorn is to address an actual or potential sin in the life of the believer. It is disciplinary in nature.27:10 Hebrews 12 8 through 11 makes us to know that when God allows the devil to stick us through circumstances, people,27:22 situations, he is trying to address a sin in our lives while at the very same time wanting to show us something new.27:33 Revelations exalting oneself. So if you are having a thorn right now, God has good news and27:45 bad news. The good news is he's got something in store. The bad news is he wants to deal with a sin or sins that will keep him from being27:56 glorified with this new information, New blessing. God will do whatever it takes to rid us of our self sufficiency.28:11 So that leads to a final point, the point. I've got a thorn. It28:22 hurts. Won't go away. Had it forever, don't see any new revelation,28:35 how do I work with this thing? What's my response to the thorn? To get the thorn to do what the thorn is designed to do, what do I do? Let's go back to verse28:47 8. He says, concerning this, this thorn, I entreated the lord 3 times that it might depart from me. So the first thing he did was pray about the thorn. If you have a thorn, it's getting on28:59 your nerves, nagging you, irritating you, you pray about it. He prayed 3 times. And number 3 is very important in the Bible. Jesus talked to the devil 3 times. In the garden of29:11 Gethsemane, he prayed, this cup pass for me 3 times. 3 was used of communication with God to the point of a response.29:24 How long do you pray about something? That's an easy answer till you get 1. You pray about something till29:36 you get an answer. The question is, well, how do I make it with this thorn? I'm praying about it. I still have the thorn. Paul was praying29:48 about it, and God said, no. Let's get practical here. Your question is, when will God answer30:00 your request? That's your question. Especially about a thorn, because usually we're asking that question about things that are problems in our lives. When is God gonna answer my prayer? No. You don't understand. He is30:12 answering your prayer. There are only 3 answers God can give to your prayer. 1 is yes. I will grant you what you requested. The prayer of Jabez. He will30:24 he will give you what you requested. That's 1. And everybody wants that answer. There's a second answer God can give you to your prayer. No. There's a third30:36 answer God can give you to your prayer. Wait. Those are the only 3 answers. Yes, no, or not now. If you pray for30:47 something today, and it's a legitimate prayer, and it was a legitimate prayer for Paul to pray, get rid of this thorn, by going to the doctor's office saying, get rid of this30:59 problem, this headache, this ulcer, this tumor. That's a legitimate prayer. If you have a thorn, it's okay to go to God and say, take it away. So it's Monday31:11 morning, you're getting on your knees, and you're saying, oh God, take away this thorn. And it doesn't go anywhere. Well, you know31:22 1 answer you didn't get. Okay? So we can we can reduce 3 down to 2, because yes didn't come.31:37 There are only 2 other possible answers, no or not yet. Now, the problem is you don't know which 1 is operating. You don't know whether you're getting no, period, or no, not now. You you you're31:49 not sure which 1 that is. So how do you make it in the meantime? Here it is. Here's the verse, verse 9.32:02 And God said to me, the 1 who gave him the thorn said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. For32:13 power is perfected in weakness. 1 of the great verses of the Bible let me translate that for32:25 you. God didn't grant his request, but God met his need. Moses prayed up on the mount. He said, Lord, let me32:37 see your face. God said, no. No. No man can see my face and live. So any Christian who tells you, just32:49 pray and God's gonna answer because you pray. Yeah. He gonna answer it. And it might be no. God is not yes all the time. Or it might be no, not33:00 yet. Or not today. Or like we tell our children, wait. But while you33:12 wait with this needle jabbing you, you're learn a lesson about the greatest word in the Christian33:23 vocabulary, grace. There is no greater word than this 1. Grace. Grace33:35 is God giving you what you can't give yourself. It is God it's God's goodness overrunning you.33:49 I am not or either I am not right now going to answer your request about getting rid of the thorn. I'm not gonna kill your husband.34:03 I'm not going get you that job, give you that promotion, get you out of debt, give you that mate. No. But it hurts.34:16 It's sticking me, irritating me, nagging me, frustrating me. Okay. I'm not gonna give you what you request, but I'm a give you what you need.34:27 You need grace. You need me to come alongside of you and to give you, watch this now, a second wind. You34:40 know what a second wind is when you're running. You're running and you're just too tired. You just you just you just can't go any further, and and the transmission changes gears.34:52 And all of a sudden, you get strength you didn't have, energy you didn't have, and it was by grace, which meant it had to be given. Because grace is a gift, the Bible says. So35:03 grace is given. How much grace? He tells you in verse 9. Sufficient grace. He God doesn't just give grace.35:16 He gives sufficient grace. When does God give sufficient grace? When you pray. He says, I prayed, and I got an answer. And the35:28 answer wasn't what I asked for, but the answer was what I needed, sufficient to what I was going through. Now, let me tell you something. There is no thorn you're35:39 enduring that God says, no, I'm not gonna get rid of, for which there is not sufficient grace to handle35:52 until your change comes. That cannot happen. Now I'm not talking about thorns you're sticking yourself with.36:05 I'm talking about thorns given to you. But we so much want a yes answer that we36:17 miss grace. Let me show you the greatest verse on grace in the Bible. The greatest verse on grace in the Bible. The36:29 same book. Turn back a few pages. I'm a come back. Hold your finger there. But chapter 9 of second Corinthians verse 8. Here it is. Memorize this 1. Write it down.36:41 Think about it all day. This will get you through anything. Verse 8 of chapter 9, and God is able to make all grace36:53 abound to you that always having all sufficiency in everything, you have an abundance for every good37:05 need. Now, left no stone uncovered in that verse. He says, God has got so much grace that it abounds, it heats up, and it37:17 happens always in all sufficiency. And it doesn't matter about the situation, in everything, so that not only do you get enough grace, you get bonus37:29 grace and abundance for every good deed. Listen. When you're trying to deal with a thorn and God hasn't taken away a thorn,37:41 don't go trying to pull it out yourself. You're gonna rip something. You go searching for grace. And where did he get grace? When he prayed 3 times.37:53 The difference between the defeated Christian and the victorious Christian when they both have the same thorn is that 1 is experiencing grace and the other is not. That's the difference.38:05 1 is being showered with grace and the other is not. Because the other is so irritated at the thorn, they spend all their time dealing with the thorn, so they never get38:16 around to the new revelation. See, are 2 ways to deal with a problem. Let me explain. 1 way is to get rid of it. We all wanna get rid of the problem.38:33 Or another way is to have something so superior happen that you forget it. Let's say you have a thorn of depression or38:44 discouragement or not married to the best person in the world or whatever it is. And you go home today or tomorrow from work.38:56 You open up your mail, and somebody gives you a check for 1000000 dollars. You'd running through the house telling that husband that you haven't loved for 15 years. I love you. I love you.39:09 Ain't told you that forever, but I love you today. Headache? What a headache? I don't have a headache. What's a headache?39:23 Because something new happened. Something unexpected happened that was so awesome, so great, so devastatingly glorious that it made the thorn that39:34 hasn't disappeared become insignificant. Some of you have spent your life running from your thorn, and you have missed your revelation. You39:46 missed your illumination. You've missed the new thing God wants to show you and the humbling he wants to give you by making you dependent on him.40:01 Grace. Billy Graham was speeding. True story. Billy Graham was speeding. He got pulled over. And he had to pay the fine. He went to court to pay the fine, just 10 miles40:13 over the speed limit. He went in there, and the judge says, well, how do you plead? He says, I'm guilty. I'm guilty.40:25 The judge didn't recognize him at first, then the judge caught, when he heard the voice, who he was talking to. Benny Graham. He said, you're pleading guilty? He says,40:36 yeah, I was guilty. He says, doctor Graham, this is gonna cost you 100 dollars He says, I know. I was guilty.40:49 This guy just couldn't get over. He's sitting in front of Billy Graham, the greatest evangelist in all of human history, and he's gonna fine him 100 dollars for going 10 miles an hour over the speed limit.Show more
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