The Lodestar

Despite our earnest prayers, not all sicknesses can be healed. Paul repeatedly prayed for the “thorn in the flesh” that made him weak to leave, but instead of granting his request, the Lord promised him grace sufficient in weakness.

His experience is counterculture in this age of Christian triumphalism. Christian triumphalism is an attitude or feeling of victory or superiority that some Christians hold. It involves overemphasising the triumph and overcoming that Christians have in Christ while ignoring the reality of ongoing sin and our own fallen and finite nature. Triumphalism is a term that is often used in a negative sense, as it can lead to arrogance and a lack of humility. Its most popular form is the belief that Christians will always enjoy health, wealth, and success.

Paul’s experience illustrates that all sickness may not be healed despite our earnest prayers; some thorns stay so that we may experience the sufficiency of divine grace.

Weakness (physical, financial, etc.) is not shameful; it is something to boast about. This is contrary to a culture where the weak and poor have no place but adore the strong, the winners, and the achievers.

Contemporary culture's idols have risen to high pedestals through wit and wisdom. But the weak who have come to Christ survive by the grace of God apportioned to them moment by moment from the fullness of Christ (John 1:16). Human strength weighs less than the grace those who are weak in the sight of the world receive.

Christ the Lord strengthens the weak daily, but those who are strong in their own eyes get weaker as their strength ebbs away. Mary sang: “He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty” (Luke 1:53).

Are you living with a thorn that refuses to go? You are entitled to a trove of God’s grace.

(To receive these devotionals daily on WhatsApp, click here.)