Our Need of Thorns

The sublime experience of Paul's being transported into heaven and revceiving revelation directly from the risen Christ was followed by the Lord's sending him a "thorn in the flesh" to keep him from being uplifted in spiritual pride. Development of the apostle's testimony here shows the need for "thorns" in the wake of our deepest experiences of the felt presence of God as well as in seasons of outward prostpeity. To restrain pride and a sense of self-sufficiency, God often sends humbling and painful circumstances, which are gateways to discovery of the amazing grace of Christ, which is meant in this passage not the sense of the unmerited favor of God, but of the powerful effects of the divine favor to uphold and satisfy in times of greatest weakness and distress. Learning this way of the Lord in dealing with our souls should encourage the Christian to take up the crosses God sends rather than trying to get rid of them. With this attitude the Christian learns more readily the mystery, "When I am weak, then am I strong."