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2nd Corin 12: 7b 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.

In the current climate that we are in, if one is seen to have a sickness, that person is view as being sinful, having no faith or someone whom God has turned His back on.  And yet, Apostle Paul who wrote most of the books in the New Testament had an illness, that God did not take away from him.

Sometimes people question whether sickness might in fact be God’s will because He declined to remove the ‘thorn in the flesh’ from the Apostle Paul. If it was God’s will for Paul to be sick, should we not be prepared to suffer also? In considering this question, the first thing is to put Paul’s ministry in context.

Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles. According to Acts 19:11-12, Paul also had extraordinary powers of healing. “Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.” And, when he was shipwrecked on his way to Rome, he first survived a poisonous snakebite, then he healed every sick person on the island (Acts 28: 8-9 ).

There is no question that Paul knew the power of the Holy Spirit to heal. However, he did get sick himself. Gal 4:13-14 says, “You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first. And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as [Messiah] Jesus.”

Although Paul moved in the power of the Holy Spirit, his life was not easy. In many of the places he visited, the crowds were stirred into hysterical rage against him. He was beaten and imprisoned several times. In one town, he was stoned and left for dead. He was shipwrecked 3 times.

This passage describing Paul’s thorn in the flesh follows a long description of the great persecutions and suffering that Paul endured during his missionary work. It is humbling to read these verses and to consider all the abuse that Paul experienced as he served God to found our church. Some scholars connect these persecutions to the suffering of Job, also caused by a demonic agent (Job 2:26). In fact, the term, messenger of Satan, is the Greek word angelos. It is used more than 80 times in the Bible and always refers to a spirit being. In addition, the term ‘buffet’ is highly suggestive of physical beatings.

Whether beatings or illness, the fact that Paul suffered while in God’s service does not mean that God does not want to heal everyone. One of the greatest healers of the twentieth century was Smith Wigglesworth. This great man traveled the world, dramatically manifesting God’s power against every kind of disease and disability. Foremost in his teaching was the right of every believer to be healed through faith. However, he himself suffered kidney stones for several months that left him writhing in pain and passing blood. All day he would heal others. At night he would wrestle for his own healing.

God does not promise us a life free from suffering. He does promise us that in Messiah we overcome every form of evil. As for Paul’s thorn in the flesh, we should all have such wonderful supernatural experiences that we need a thorn of our own to keep us humble!  The great apostle had a sickness that could not be healed and thus demonstrate that God does not always heal. It is a Biblical fact that God does not always heal.

In 2 Corin 11: 23b,   I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones,three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, ²⁶ I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. ²⁷ I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.

In the above Scripture, Apostle Paul, gives us a glimpse into his suffering for the Gospel.  The thorn in the flesh would most probably be a physical ailment.  What he endured must have left some physical injuries to his body and yet he tells us in Phil 3:¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Despite this physical ailment, Apostle Paul tell us in Rms 8:²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[i] have been called according to his purpose.  Apostle Paul considered suffering to be a part of his ministry and because of this mental approach to all what he went through, he never cursed God but held on to Jesus who had called him.

No matter what you are going through today, be rest assured that God knows and at the right time, He will heal you, if that is what your need is today.  And if what you are believing God for is not healing but you need answers to specific prayers, hold on and don’t give up.  God sees our pains and suffering and sooner than we think, He will answer us.  In the meantime. keep on doing good and hold on to the Author and Finisher of our faith.