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•7又恐怕我因所得的启示太高深，就过于高抬自己，所以有一根刺加在我身上，就是撒但的差役来折磨我，免得我过于高抬自己。8为了这事，我曾三次求主使这根刺离开我。9他对我说：“我的恩典是够你用的，因为我的能力是在人的软弱上显得完全。”所以，我更喜欢夸耀自己的软弱，好使基督的能力覆庇我。10为基督的缘故，我以软弱、凌辱、艰难、迫害、困苦为可喜乐的事；因为我什么时候软弱，什么时候就刚强了。
我们不知道保罗所说加在身上的刺到底指的是什么。有人猜测可能是眼睛的疾病导致视力不好，因为他曾承认他手写的字很大（加拉太书6：11）。保罗在写信时经常让别人替他写字，他来口述，在信最后的结束语他常常是自己写。也有人说可能是严重的关节炎，也可能是他在小亚细亚地区传道时感染了疟疾。我们最好不知道那根刺是什么，因为这样我们就可以看到保罗身上的刺和我们身上的刺没有什么不同。
保罗曾三次祈求上帝除去这根刺。为什么上帝没有成全保罗呢？保罗告诉我们其中一个原因，这也是今天我们要仔细思考的。他说上帝这样做是“免得我过于高抬自己”。我们自以为强的地方很容易变成我们的弱点。如果我们认为是我们靠自己的双手创造了这家公司，建立了这个教会，养育了这个家庭，积累了财富，甚至坚固了信心，那我们就自欺欺人了。我们只是把上帝的功劳揽在自己身上。所以神给我们身上的刺，叫我们在他面前谦卑，免得我们在神面前高抬自己，自高自大。
神出于他的恩典，让我们的一切都上下颠倒。当整个世界都在夸耀自己的强大，我们却夸耀自己的软弱。因为我们什么时候软弱，什么时候就刚强了。这是因为基督的能力覆庇我。
祷告：主耶稣，我要歌颂你的能力，早晨要高唱你的慈爱；因为你是我的庇护所，在急难的日子作过我的避难所。（诗篇59：16）阿们。
2 Corinthians 12: Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (NIV)
We don’t know what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was. Some guess it could have been terrible eyesight, because he once admitted that he wrote in large letters (Galatians 6:11). He often had others write for him. Or perhaps it was a bad case of arthritis, or malaria he could have contacted in the Asia Minor regions. It is better that we don’t know, because then we can imagine that Paul’s thorn in the flesh is not that different than our own.
He pleaded with God three times to take this malady away. Why didn’t God do that for Paul? Paul tells us one reason, which we want to think about today. He said God did it “to keep me from becoming conceited.” Our strength can easily become our weakness. If we think that our hands have built this company, or established this church, or raised this family, or amassed this wealth, or created this music, or grown our faith, then we have deceived ourselves. We have taken credit for what only God has done. So to keep us from becoming conceited and boastful before God, God gives us a thorn in the flesh, just to keep us humble before him.
Do you see how God’s grace has turned everything upside down for us? When the world boasts of its strength, we boast of our weaknesses, because when we are weak, then we are strong because Christ’s power rests on me.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. (Psalm 59:16) Amen.