June 20, 2025

A Declaration of Dependence

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 - 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But 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. 10 That 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.

Have you ever wondered why God allows things in your life that are seemingly holding you back or even holding you down?

It’s hard to even describe it but I can only tell you how it looks in my life.

For me, it’s the constant financial crises that come out of nowhere that couldn’t have been predicted or budgeted. Or the health issues that continue to plague our entire family.

I’ve often wondered why. Why, God, are you allowing this? But as I’ve learned to deal with suffering and seemingly bizarre setbacks through the years, I’ve learned that I’ve been asking the wrong questions.

It’s not, “God, why are you allowing this,” but, “God, what are you trying to accomplish in me?”

Because I can guarantee that there is a purpose for it all.

And, to be clear, I’m not talking about times where we’re experiencing the discipline of God or times when we’re reaping the consequences of our sinful actions. That’s a different subject for a different day. I’m talking about stuff that happens and is seemingly random and you’re just left to wonder, “Why this, why now?”

This passage in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 gives us a better understanding of not just why but what God is trying to accomplish.

In this passage in 2 Corinthians 12, Paul shares of a time that God allowed him to be called up into “the third heaven” or “paradise” to see visions that he couldn’t even speak of - they were so great.

A couple of things here: don’t get tripped up on the terms he’s using. In those days, the first heaven would have been considered the blue sky, the second heaven would have been considered the starry sky and the third heaven or “paradise” would have been considered where God dwelled. So basically Paul was either called up - either in spirit or perhaps physically, we don’t know - to see great and unspeakable things in Heaven.

As I have said before, when God gives us great favor in our lives, it’s real easy to think it’s about what I bring to the table. Look at me. I must be special because God did this in my life.

And Paul basically says as much. In verse 7, he says that the Lord allowed a “thorn in the flesh” in Paul’s life to keep him from being conceited, to keep him from glorifying himself and from others glorifying him.

Many have speculated over what the thorn was - I’ve heard people speculate anything from epilepsy to blindness to a physical ailment to Judaizers who constantly followed him from city to city to antagonize him.

The fact is we don’t know. The details aren’t important.

It was something significant. Paul called it “a messenger of Satan.” And, like with Job in the Old Testament, God allowed it, but I’m sure Satan had a field day attacking Paul in whatever area this affected him.

Whatever it was, it affected Paul physically (others noticed it), mentally (it tormented him)and spiritually (it caused him to cry out to God). He asked God to take it away three times, but God refused.

Instead, God reminded Paul that His grace was sufficient for him and His power is made perfect in Paul’s weakness.

Again, we go back to the reason for the thorn in the first place - so that Paul wouldn’t boast in himself and that others wouldn’t boast in him either. We know all too well that people will worship another man if they think he’s special. I’ve seen it so many times in churches where a pastor is lifted up so high that he is the one being worshiped, not God.

God was doing amazing things in and through Paul, so He had to make it clear - to Paul and to the people- that it wasn’t about Paul. As far as people were concerned, when they saw Paul, they could see the weakness. So it was all the more to God’s glory that great things were happening in this ordinary, weak man.

After asking why for a period of time, Paul began to see the what.

He learned to embrace the weakness because that’s when Christ’s power rests on him. He learned to actually revel or delight in the persecution, the insults, the hardships, difficulties and weakness.

Why? Because when he is weak, then he is strong. When there is no way we can find the answer in us, that’s when God shows off. That’s when He brings the power. That’s when He does the miraculous, the inexplicable.

Why? So people will have no choice but to give God the glory.

God wants to take you to a point of total dependence on Him and He will allow those thorns in your flesh - be it finances, physical ailments, mental ailments, etc. - to cause a greater dependence on Him.

Perhaps my greatest struggle in life has been my independence. I wanted to do it my way, with no help, and - if I’m being honest- for my glory.

In the hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, there is a great line that declares, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.”

My greatest season of discipline and pain came about 15 years ago when I declared my independence from God and tried to do things my way and for my glory in my pastorate.

It took me years to recover from that and learn the hard lessons I needed to learn. God had to humble me and break me repeatedly before I could move forward.

Now that I am years removed from that painful experience, I have found that God has allowed certain thorns in the flesh as a constant reminder of my need for Him.

And this time it’s not to discipline me, but to protect me from myself.

But it’s also to position me so that I will able to see His great power in my weakness.

He wants and desires for me - and you - to make our Declaration of Dependence in our weakness so that we will see His great glory in our lives.