I’ve received several emails lately questioning the views I expressed in my study entitled “O You Of Little Faith.”  In each of them a misinterpretation of Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was used to support the theory that God sometimes refuses to heal us when we ask.   Sadly, this misinterpretation is all too common among Christians today.  I’ve updated and expanded the article and offer it in response to these questions.  Be blessed.

My Grace Is Sufficient For You
For years the Lord has been done a terrible disservice over the issue of Paul’s complaint about the thorn in his flesh, and it’s time to set the record straight. If you’ve been taught that “My Grace is sufficient for you” was the Lord’s excuse for not healing Paul, then pay close attention. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then get ready for a great example of how folks distort the meaning of scripture either to satisfy their pre-conceived notions or justify their lack of faith.

To get the context, let’s read Paul’s words from 2 Corinthians 12:7-9.

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Before we look at the problem, let’s review the popular interpretation. According to some, Paul’s eyesight was permanently damaged when he was blinded on the Damascus Road. Supposedly, this caused a disease of the eye common to the day especially around Damascus. Its name was opthalmia and the visible symptom was a stream of pus running out of the eyes and down the face. It was nearly as repugnant as leprosy. The popular interpretation holds that this is the thorn in his flesh Paul was referring to when he asked the Lord for healing three times and was refused.

The “lesson” of this interpretation is that even the great Paul wasn’t healed when he asked and that the Lord had actually given him this disease to help him overcome his pride. We’re to understand that God gives us disease (and misfortune as well) to help us overcome our sins, and that we shouldn’t ask for healing from something the Lord gave us for that purpose. If we do ask and don’t get healed, it’s because the Lord is dealing with us.  All this is wrapped up in the Father’s love, saying that He’s working for our good in spite of our selfish desires.

So what’s wrong with that view? Well, aside from the fact that the Lord handled our sin problem at the cross and now sees us as being with out any imperfection (2 Cor. 5:21), and that it comes perilously close to the Eastern notion of karma, the context makes it ridiculous and the translation is flawed.

What’s The Context?
Just imagine you’re the Creator of the universe. Out of your boundless love, you’ve given the life of your son to redeem your creation from its bondage to sin, and you’ve gone to great lengths to recruit someone to go around telling people about it so they can be saved. You want this person to prove that you’re much greater than all their pagan gods so you bring him right up to your very throne and show him things no other man has ever seen so He can speak with authority. (2 Cor. 12:2-4) And you empower him to heal them from their diseases (Acts 19:11-12) and even raise some of them from the dead (Acts 20:7-12).

But every time he speaks of your wonderful love and miraculous power, he has to stand there with pus running out of both eyes and explain that you gave him this disease and won’t heal him because you’re afraid he’ll become too proud.  Would he have a credibility problem? I’d say so.

Now let’s learn what the passage really says. The word for thorn literally means a pointed stake, and recalls a situation in Judges 2 when the Israelites failed to rid the land of all its previous inhabitants as God had commanded (Deut. 20:16-18).  Because of their failure to obey Him, The Angel of the Lord declared that these people would become perpetual enemies to oppose the Israelites physically and distract them spiritually.  He then coined the phrase “thorn in your sides” to symbolize their physical and spiritual opposition.  From that day to this, these people have inflicted incredible physical abuse upon God’s people.

The word torment actually means to rap with the fist, or buffet. It also comes from a root meaning to physically punish.

In both these words there’s a clear implication of physical attack. So the real story of Paul’s thorn in the flesh goes more like this. Everywhere Paul went he was physically abused. Hear his own account from 2 Cor. 11:23-26:
“I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea. I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers.”

Is He Dead Yet?
I urge you to study these events carefully in Acts. For example, in Philippi Paul and Silas were stripped and severely beaten with rods. The flesh on their backs was bruised and bleeding, and the pain was incredible, but they were taken to prison without medical attention, their hands and feet secured in stocks, forcing them to sit in an upright position, making sleep virtually impossible even if the pain would have allowed it.

But at midnight they were heard singing hymns of praise and the doors of the prison broke open, freeing them. They went to the home of the jailer, who washed and fed them. The miracles he had seen caused his whole family to be saved that night. The next morning when they were officially released, they walked 30 miles to Amphipolis having received no medical treatment and having had no recovery time, not even a night’s sleep. (Acts 16:22-40) The Lord had healed them.

But an earlier incident in Lystra is perhaps the most dramatic  A group of angry Jews from Antioch and Iconium had followed Paul to Lystra. When they caught up with him they took up stones and stoned him. (Acts 14:19-20)  Remember, stoning was the Jewish method of execution. It consisted of immobilizing a person, sometimes by burying him up to his waist, and then hurling rocks at his head and upper body until he died.

Believing they had been successful and that Paul was dead, they dragged his body out side the city and left it there for the wild dogs to eat. But the believers gathered around him and prayed.  Paul got up and went back into the city with them. The next day he walked 25 miles to Derbe.  It’s like walking home from your execution; it just doesn’t happen.

These are incredible examples of God’s miraculous power. Contrary to the popular interpretation, Paul was physically healed by the grace of God over and over again.  He was rescued from the open sea and even raised from the dead.  It was a great testimony of God’s strength perfected in Paul’s weakness.

The idea that God doesn’t heal people any more can’t be supported by this or any other scripture.  The real lesson here is that while God refused to eliminate the resistance to Paul’s ministry, He promised to see him through it successfully if Paul would walk in faith down the path God had set before him.  And can you imagine the faith Paul must have had, going into those towns knowing his enemies were waiting and would try to stop him again.  But each time it happened, and each time God healed him, his faith was strengthened, God’s glory was increased, and the Gospel was spread.

In the conquest of the Promised Land, God could have simply struck all of Israel’s enemies dead, but instead He required Israel to fight, telling them in advance that they would achieve victory.  The only defeat they suffered was when they disobeyed, and as soon as they confessed He gave them that victory too. (Joshua 7-8)

Jesus said that in his world we will have trials, but to take heart because He has overcome the world.  (John 16:33) What He meant by that is He may not choose to deliver you from the trials you face in this world, but He will never leave you or forsake you as you go through them, and given the chance He will miraculously restore you to show forth His glory.   The only reason Paul performed greater miracles than we do is because he had bigger faith.  The only reason he had bigger faith is because he fought bigger battles.

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  (Luke 12:16-21)

According to a government analysis, the retirement accounts (like pension funds and 401k’s) of working Americans have lost more than $2 trillion in the past 15 months, half of it in the last 3 months.  That means the average American family has just lost nearly 25% of its retirement fund, and we’re being cautioned that the end is not yet in sight.

This is on top of the 25% hit they’ve just taken in the value of their home and the increase in fuel and other costs associated with their daily lives. Many families have seen their net worth cut nearly in half.  It’s not a pretty sight. Only the stock market crash of 1929 has been worse.

Who Started This?
If you’re following the editorials and news reports like I am you’ve been reading some of the most incredible speculation about what’s happening and why that we’ve seen in a long time.

Some say conditions are being created for the anti-Christ to step in and take charge.  According to this scenario, he’ll be a financial peacemaker, and will take over the world’s banking systems to get control of the situation and restore order.  At that point he’ll be able to determine what everybody buys and sells, excluding those who won’t follow him from the marketplace.

Others say that this crisis has been manipulated by a hand full of shadowy figures at the pinacle of the US financial world.  They’re the ones who triggered the Asian financial crisis a few years ago and now they’re implementing the same tactics against Europe.  Their goal is also to control world finance but for the benefit of their cronies at Goldman Sachs, Citibank and JP Morgan.

Still others claim this is the long predicted (but studiously ignored) outcome of applying the philosophy of social activism to economic matters.  They claim that since the days of the Carter Administration the government has been ignoring the basics of mortgage banking by forcing its sponsored lending institutions to grant loans to people who couldn’t pay them back.  Such requirements as good credit history, proof of income, and down payments were all ignored to help more of the nation’s “disadvantaged”  to own their homes. Their hope (which didn’t materialize) was that if more people in poor neighborhoods owned their homes, they’d help improve the neighborhoods which would increase the value of their property.  Payment plans were sometimes adjusted downward to the point where they didn’t even cover the monthly interest charges, meaning that the “home owner’s” debt actually increased each month. While this program started off “small” in 15 selected markets, it was vastly expanded by President Clinton to become essentially a nation wide effort.

They say Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac ultimately failed because of these bad mortgages, which by government decree made up about half of their portfolios, and that triggered the failure of other institutions who bought their “Asset Backed Securities”, as bundles of these mortgages were called.  Just about every sizable financial institution in the world with a fixed income portfolio holds some and will share in losses that could run in excess of $3.6 trillion dollars ( that’s 3.6 with 11 zeros behind it). And that doesn’t count the losses caused by the sell off of other stocks as investors lose faith in all the world’s financial markets. The IMF estimates those losses to be another trillion or so.

And then there are those who say that God Himself is behind this.  He’s giving “what-for” to those who’ve put their trust in silver and gold in an effort to humble the proud in fulfillment prophecies like James 5:1-6.

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.

They see this all happening around the time of the Fall Feasts as being a sure sign that it’s from God.  This, in spite of the fact that Israel, whose time of judgment the feasts were designed for, has been much less damaged by all this than the Gentile world.

One thing everyone seems to agree on is that this isn’t going to be over anytime soon. They all say that we’ll have short periods of relative calm that will make it seem like things are OK, but they’ll be followed by more times of unrest and even greater uncertainty.  Many believe that our mountain of credit card debt will come crashing down next, and before it’s all over we’ll see a totally new world wide banking system, and perhaps even a single world wide currency.

Now What Do We Do?
How should a Christian family respond to these things?  The natural way is to tighten the proverbial belt, stop spending money on things we don’t need and try to reduce living expenses as quickly as possible.  Many will reduce their charitable giving immediately, thinking it’s the most discretionary of all their spending, and indeed some already have. Others are turning to Ebay and Craig’s List, hoping to convert non-essential possessions into cash to help pay the bills.

The Bible suggests a different strategy.  It says not to worry about it. It says you should sell unnecessary things and work to reduce your income needs, but then give the money you recover to the poor.  When things are declining in value the sooner you turn them into cash the more cash you’ll get, and the more you get the more generous you can be.  If your retirement fund is disappearing anyway, why not give some of it away while you can and feel good, instead of watching it disappear into thin air  and feeling bad?

You’ll also be building treasure in Heaven where things like inflation and depreciation are unheard of, and at the same time cranking up  the measure of blessing you receive on Earth because with the measure you use in giving, the Lord’s blessings are measured to you. (Luke 6:38)

The anxiety people feel just now comes from watching something they’ve worked for and put their faith in eroding uncontrollably right before their eyes. And if, as some believe, this erosion will continue until there’s little or nothing left the stress can only get worse. Shifting your trust from your bank account to the Lord will immediately reduce your anxiety because you’ll be putting your faith in the One who has promised to look after you, and who will never run out of money.  And using part of what He’s already given you to help the less fortunate will give you such a boost that you’ll finally understand what that phrase “peace that passes all understanding” really means.

Where your treasure is there your heart will be also.  Now’s the time to move your portfolio to some place where things like this can’t ever happen.  Since you’re going there soon anyway, now’s the time to send it on ahead. Financial adisors caution us against converting everything to cash because they say when we do we lock in our losses.  But investing in the Lord’s work will store up treasure in Heaven .  It pays an eternal dividend that will put anything you could earn here to shame.

I know this sounds counter intuitive.  I know every fiber of your being is telling you to tighten up and horde what you have.  But I’m saying that now’s the time to become generous.  Now’s the time to switch your allegiance from the things of man to the promises of God.  When you do, you’ll have finally found that “sure thing” that investors have hunted for in vain since the beginning of time.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. (Colossians 2:8)

In these three articles on Living in Hard Times I’ve identified three Biblical principles that can guide us safely through.

Seek His Kingdom and His Righteousness,
Increase Your Faith,
Store Up Treasure In Heaven.
Seeking His Kingdom means to start living a life more pleasing to Him, not by keeping a bunch of rules, but by offering your life to Him to use as He sees fit. Increasing your faith means trusting Him to provide for you as His part of the bargain and watching your faith grow as He comes through for you.  Storing up treasure in heaven means helping the work of the kingdom as the Lord guides you, using what He’s given you for His glory.  All three require us to abandon conventional wisdom and the ways of this world in favor of Biblical truth.  It’s one of the biggest paradigm shifts we’ll ever make but it’s based on Paul’s admonition of 2 Cor. 4:18.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

So come on, Church. It’s time to get our hearts and minds out of the world and into the Kingdom, to finally walk by faith and not by sight. To recognize that we’re citizens of Heaven and our temporary stay here is coming to an end.  To stop worrying about things that aren’t our responsibility and that we can’t control and focus on things that are our responsibillity and that we can. Time to think about going home and what it’s going to be like there, and to send our treasure on ahead so it’ll be there when we need it.  It’s time to place our trust fully in the One we can neither leave nor lose, the Giver of every good and perfect gift, who has promised to be with us always, even to the end of the age, and to see to our every need along the way.