American painter, John Sargent, once painted a panel of
roses that was highly praised by his critics. It was a small picture, but they
said it approached perfection. Although offered a high price for it on many
occasions, Sargent refused to sell it. He considered it his best work and was
proud of it. Whenever he was deeply discouraged and doubtful of his abilities,
he’d look at it and remind himself, “I painted that.” Then his confidence and
ability would return and his spirits would lift.
Once when Dr. Park Tucker, Chaplain of the Federal
Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia, in the 1920s, was walking around the streets
of his city feeling dismal and discouraged, his eyes seized on a sign in the
window of a funeral home. At first he wondered if he had read it right. Upon
closer inspection he confirmed that he had. The sign read, “Why walk around
half-dead? We can bury you for $69.50 and we give green stamps, too!”
Now these are two common strategies for dealing with
discouragement – look to your past successes or consider how bad things can
really be. But Paul offers us a much more superior way of processing
discouragement than either of these. In fact, it’s a discovery he makes as a
result of a clear divine exposure. He tells of it in II Corinthians 12:1-10.
In our series “Divine Exposure” we have already seen how God
stoops to the weakness of men like Elijah and women like Sarah. In both of
those cases He condescends to their place of alienation and discouragement and lifts
their spirits by giving them a new perspective. But in Paul’s case His approach
is quite a bit different. Indeed, it is because of the gracious vision God
gives Paul that the apostle grows afflicted and discouraged.
We will delve into this entire matter this Sunday in a
message entitled, “The Thorn”. As we noted briefly in last week’s sermon, Paul
receives a vision of the heavenly throne room of God just like Isaiah. But
there are some considerable differences that we will highlight.
For years I read this passage and lifted from it what I
thought was the main point, a principle of prayer. The principle is
persistence. Paul says that he pleaded with God three times to remove the thorn.
He didn’t pray just once or twice. He prayed three times. Therefore, I
reasoned, that anytime a struggle emerges in your life, pray diligently for the
Lord to take it away.
While such a principle can be derived from this text, there’s
so much more here. Paul’s primary purpose is not to impart a prayer technique
to his readers, but to underscore a much greater principle that has far reaching
implications for all of us.
In preparation for Sunday, you may wish to consider the
following:
1.
Why does he tell the Corinthians all of this?
What prompts the discourse?
2.
Why does he speak of himself in the third person
in verse 2 and following?
3.
What is the third heaven?
4.
What detail does he provide to us about the third
heaven? Where is that?
5.
What does his description and his third person
recounting tell us about those who say they’ve heard from the Lord, etc.?
6.
What conceit could Paul possibly have as a
result of his divine exposure?
7.
What was the thorn?
8.
What message of Satan would flow from the
presence of the thorn?
9.
How does the presence of the thorn equate with
divine grace?
10. How
is God’s power made perfect in weakness?
See you Sunday!
See you Sunday!
