Pains, Prayers, and Paradoxes

God doesn’t always give us what we ask for—and that’s not a bad thing.

Paul’s Pains

In Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth, the apostle speaks of an unhappy trial in his life. He calls this difficulty a “thorn” (2 Corinthians 12:7). Thorns are prickly and pokey. Paul evidently felt that this particular trial, whether a physical ailment (see Galatians 4:13) or something psychological, continued to jab at him. The faithful man of God calls this inconvenience a “messenger of Satan,” which conjures up images from the book of Job. You’ll recall in the Old Testament how Satan, with God’s permission, struck the patriarch with loathsome sores, from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head (Job 2:7). In Paul’s case, the thorn flashed forth like a sucker punch, not unlike what Jesus felt, right before his crucifixion, when soldiers struck him with their fists (Matt. 26:67). The pain and suffering were real.

I remember as a young kid, around age eight, when doctors diagnosed me with glaucoma. I didn’t understand a whole lot about eye diseases at the time. I just knew my vision wasn’t the same as it was before—and so did my classmates. I was the odd duck out with really bad eyesight. Kids can be cruel sometimes, even if only with their words. For whatever reason, the nickname “four eyes” always dug deeper into my soul than it should have. On at least a couple occasions all I could do was come home and cry. My painful thorn wasn’t exactly life or death in nature. But the prickly pokes buffeted me nevertheless.

Paul’s Prayers

You can learn a lot about a person in how he or she handles pain. Will there be whining, or will there be worship? Paul worshiped rather than whined. Yet Paul’s worship wasn’t without prayer. In fact, three times he “pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me” (2 Cor. 12:8). Notice Paul’s earnestness in prayer. After all, the apostle commended an unceasing constancy in prayer (1 Thess. 5:17; Col. 4:2). Like his Lord who prayed three times in the Garden of Gethsemane, Paul offered up his prayer requests with fervency.

Notice also Paul’s honesty in prayer. He prayed with great frequency, yes. But he also prayed with sincerity. Paul wanted the pain to be gone, and so he prayed that the Lord would take it away. Paul is certainly not the first one to plead with the Lord in the midst of his suffering. Job made his defense. Hannah cried bitterly. David asked, “How long, O Lord?” Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and wept. Jeremiah lamented. They each prayed their hearts out because they all wanted relief.

I remember in college on more than a few instances when my friend and I got down on our knees on my dorm room floor and pleaded with the Lord to take away our physical infirmities. We asked and asked and asked some more. Our prayers were earnest and honest. We prayed our hearts out because we wanted God to remove the bitter trials.

Plenty of Paradoxes

The Christian life is full of paradoxes. Paradoxes, of course, are those things that run contrary to human expectations; they cut against the grain of our imaginations. You know, like the fact that ants can carry heavier loads than elephants, at least in comparison to their own actual weight. (Obviously elephants are able to carry heavy objects, but ants, on the other hand, can carry many, many times their own weight.) For Christians, certain truths will seem surprising, yet they are true. Here are four paradoxes:

1. God may deny your prayer, but he will still provide for your needs.

Notice how God responds to Paul’s three-peat prayer: But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor. 12:9). Did you catch that? God doesn’t give Paul what he asks for; instead he gives Paul what he needs. And what does Paul need? Answer: grace. Grace that is sufficient. In other words, God gives Paul enough grace for each day. And that’s what each and every one of us needs—enough grace for the day. I need, you need, we all need enough grace for the time at hand. Not more, not less. God knows how much grace we need—the grace God gives is sufficient.

2. Christ’s strength shines through your weakness.

Notice how Paul grounds his grace statement—for my power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). Our weaknesses and limitations showcase Christ’s glorious power. Like a telescope that allows us to observe otherwise hidden galaxies of grandeur, our shortcomings give us (and others) a greater glimpse of Christ and his mighty power. Our weakness magnifies our Savior’s strength.

3. Not all boasting is bad.

Boasting usually does not bode well for those who do it. We don’t much care for the bragging types. Paradoxically, however, there is a kind of bragging that is not bad. When we boast in the Lord and his strength, we honor Christ. Paul says, Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me (2 Cor. 12:9). Elsewhere, the apostle writes, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Cor. 1:31). Indeed, we brag only in Jesus; he must increase and we must decrease (John 3:30).

4. You can be content when life gets uncomfortable.

Contentment is not common these days. Indeed, contentedness is a rare jewel, not easy to find. We tend to grumble and groan, murmur and moan. But Christians, like Paul, can learn contentment at the school of Christ. Paul says, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10). Believer, your life circumstances may get hard. But you can grow in contentment. You can learn the secret of being content, come whatever difficulties may.

I believe it was either my junior or senior year of college when, after years of discontentment with my vision, the Lord settled my heart to trust in his paradoxical goodness in the midst of my trials. I finally began to recognize—contrary to my own puny human wisdom—that the Lord’s ways are much higher than my own. I won’t say that I’ve yet earned my Ph.D in the university of Christ’s contentment, but I’m definitely taking a few classes. And I have no doubt that more homework assignments are on the way.

This article was adapted from my sermon with the same title. You can listen to that sermon here.