“My ailment is 𝘮𝘺 thorn in the flesh.”

Recently I wrote about Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.” Christians regularly claim Paul of Tarsus was writing about a chronic illness. But the way he phrases it in 1 Corinthians indicates he means a person—an opponent who constantly got in his way, who irritated Paul so much he asked Jesus to remove him. And Jesus told him no: Paul needed this guy to keep him humble, and Paul was just gonna have to rely on Jesus’s grace. So he did. 2Co 12.6-10

I explain this to people… and of course they don’t believe me, because they’ve never heard this interpretation before. People are more apt to believe what they’ve been taught their whole lives, all evidence to the contrary. Besides who am I, anyway? Just some blogger. Who’s not even rich and famous; according to the prosperity gospel, wealth and fame are obvious endorsements from God, and if I don’t have that I’m not even worth listening to.

So we’re back to the more common belief Paul was talking about an illness. And people regularly use this belief to justify not praying for their illnesses. Because if Jesus didn’t cure Paul, why should he cure them? They’re not as important as Paul was. Not as devout, not as zealous, not as knowledgeable, not as holy. And if you’re still on the prosperity gospel train, not as rich and famous.

I’ve encountered this attitude more than once. Someone gets a chronic illness. Might be arthritis, diabetes, epilepsy, blindness, deafness, HIV, you name it. Some are treatable; some are not. Some leave you in constant pain. So they pray. And pray and pray and pray. And because God hasn’t cure them yet, they figure his answer is no. Hey, sometimes it is.

Here’s where they get a little wonky: “And God told me no because he’s trying to keep me humble. You know, like Paul and his thorn in the flesh. This is my thorn in the flesh. God’s grace is just gonna have to be sufficient for me.”

The scriptures were written for our benefit and instruction, so they figure Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” bit was written as a bit of theodicy—an explanation for why evil happens in a good God’s universe. An explanation for why God sometimes doesn’t cure the sick. Paul said it was to keep him from getting ὑπεραίρωμαι/yperérome, “conceited, proud, self-exalted.” He was in danger of becoming too vain because of all the awesome revelations God showed him; 2Co 12.7 he might turn into one of those prophets who insist, “I’m a really important prophet because God tells me everything!” To remind him no, he’s not all that, God let him suffer. So, Christians conclude, to remind us we’re not all that, God lets us suffer.

This… is a really messed-up belief. And not biblical. But unfortunately all too common.

Suffering and karmic thinking.

Paul’s experience was simply that: Paul’s experience. It’s not a universal experience. We don’t suffer because God’s trying to keep everyone humble. If that were the case, it doesn’t work. There are plenty of prideful people who are suffering, who are prideful despite the suffering, who haven’t learned any lessons from the suffering. Revelation even gives us examples of such people.

Revelation 16.8-11 CSB

8The fourth [angel] poured out his bowl on the sun. It was allowed to scorch people with fire, 9and people were scorched by the intense heat. So they blasphemed the name of God, who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory.

10The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues because of their pain 11and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they did not repent of their works.

Yeah, I’ve heard the argument that these are unrepentant sinners, who never will repent; who are even predestined to never repent; who are suffering as a warning to we who will repent. Thing is, I’ve known unrepentant Christians, and likely so have you. Suffering doesn’t convict them, and they just blame the devil for their suffering—because they’re righteous, and God loves them, and would never smite them. You know, just like the Jerusalemites of Isaiah’s day. Is 1

In reality, sometimes we suffer because we’re sinning and God’s trying to steer us back to his path. Other times we suffer because the devil is actually trying to mess with us—although the devil is far easier for devout Christians to fight than most Christians make it sound. (The reason they struggle to fight the devil is they’re not really all that devout!)

But most of the time, people suffer because we live in a fallen world. Where life is suffering.

John 16.33 CSB

“I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

But even though life is suffering—even though Jesus tells us we will have suffering in this world—we’re to put our trust in him. Suffering or not, tribulation or not, Jesus has overcome the world.

This thinking that we suffer because we deserve it, because we musta sinned and these are the consequences, is karmic thinking. It’s a human idea, not a biblical one. It’s an attempt by the human brain to assign meanings to a meaningless universe, to insist everything happens for a reason, because we can’t stand the idea some things are just accidental, random, and pointless. Especially when they happen to us. We’re important, dangit!

And I’m not saying we’re not important; we certainly matter to God. But the universe doesn’t give a crap about us, and the universe is unintelligent, senseless, and the vanity of vanities. Ec 1.2 KJV One person can become rich for no good reason; another can become poor for no good reason. One person will have perfect health and a long life for no good reason; another is born with birth defects and spends an entire life in pain for no good reason. None of them deserve what they have. They didn’t get it because of karma, good or bad. They didn’t get it because they’re righteous or unrighteous, and of course having what they do doesn’t make them righteous or unrighteous. We aren’t healthy because we’re righteous. Neither are we suffering because we’re righteous.

But if we use our randomly-granted circumstances to practice righteousness—if we use our inherited wealth to help others, if we strive to overcome our inherited suffering so that we might inspire others—well this is exactly what God wants us to do. To hell with karma; follow Jesus and overcome the world.

Pray persistently.

This is why Jesus taught his Persistent Widow Story:

Luke 18.1 CSB

Now he told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not give up.

He doesn’t want us to throw up our hands and say, “God’s never gonna cure me.” Unless the Holy Spirit tells us he’s never gonna cure us—that he’s deliberately gonna use our suffering to inspire others; or he’s doing as he did with Paul, and using our condition to keep us from going astray—we mustn’t presume. We need to be like the persistent widow in Jesus’s story, and keep shouting at God for help.

Those who say, “It’s my thorn in the flesh,” need to remember why Paul had a thorn in the flesh: He was in danger of becoming too vain because of all the awesome revelations God showed him. Are they in that sort of danger? Are they prophets, miracle-workers, or ministers of any sort, who might lose their sense of proportion, and start bragging they’re God’s greatest messenger of all time?

…No? They don’t minister at all?—they insist their ailment completely prevents ’em from doing anything? Does Jesus even need to keep ’em humble?

Yeah, a lot of the time the “I have a thorn in the flesh” sufferers never spoke to the Holy Spirit about why they’ve not been cured yet. They simply presume they’re just like Paul; that every chronic sufferer is just like Paul, and have to rely on God’s grace instead of God’s healing, because he’s never gonna come through for them. Sometimes it’s just bad theology behind their thinking; more often it’s just a lack of faith. And Jesus told us we gotta have faith if we want our prayers answered. Why even pray if you believe God doesn’t actually answer prayer?

So if you have a chronic illness, don’t presume God’s never gonna cure it. Keep praying. He may yet; he’s just waiting on you to stop making excuses for him, and get persistent.