Can We Talk About Your Thorny Issues?

6th Sunday after Epiphany, 2/16/25 2 Corinthians 12:7b-10 Can We Talk About Your Thorny Issues? I. What are they? II. What do you do with them? A few days ago, I researched the subject “positive thinking.” Of course, I encountered the incredibly popular self-help book The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vicent Peale, which was published in 1952. But I wanted something more recent, and I wasn’t disappointed. Virtually every respected health information web site had something to offer on the benefits of positive thinking: WebMD, Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, Psychology Today. But I didn’t spend much time reading the information those sites offered on positive thinking. I never intended to. I simply wanted to be able to confirm what you probably already knew: there is plenty of “help” out there if you want to think more positively about your life. But information on the opposite position also exists in abundance.What am I talking about? Dealing with the issues that are confronting you. I’ll admit that being negative about everything all the time is not healthy, but so is not dealing with the issues. Simply trying to be positive about the negative leads to pretensions, doesn’t it? We’ve all met people who let us know that their life is a dream, that things are going so well for them, and they want you to know just how well they are doing…ad nauseum. And all the while they’re telling you how wonderful their life is, you’re wondering what issues they’re covering up. Most Bible students have difficulty remembering all of Paul’s missionary journeys and what happened on them, but they probably remember what Paul reveals to the world in this portion of his Second Letter to the Corinthians. He had issues. Well, at least he had one issue, and it was a biggie. It was so big that Paul felt it was a hindrance to his being a better apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. But he didn’t hide it. He let the Corinthians know. In doing so he put it out there for the whole world to know. Paul had an issue. And he certainly had others; after all, he was a sinful human being just like we are. But I’d rather not discuss what may or may not have been Paul’s issues. This morning I’d rather discuss yours. Don’t worry, I’m not going to ask you to stand up and let everyone know what they are. You know them well enough yourself. And I know mine all too well. But let’s ask the question anyway. Please give me your permission to do so. Can we talk about your thorny issues? It’s my prayer that our Lord’s assistance in answering that question will lead us to him as our Savior and the solution to all our issues in life. I. If you are reluctant about sharing the truth about your thorny issues, you’re not alone. According to various studies, a significant portion of patients—often estimated to be around 70-80%—tend to withhold some information from their doctors, meaning they hide a large percentage of the truth, with common reasons including embarrassment, fear of judgment, and not wanting to appear difficult. And you know what? Jesus, your Great Physician, knows it! So, don’t play that game! It might appear at first that Paul did. As I stated earlier, when he wrote these words to the Corinthians Christians, he was letting the whole world know he had a thorny issue, but he never comes out and states what it was. The only thing he admits is this, “Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.” From these words we know that his thorn in the flesh wasn’t spiritual, psychological, or emotional. It was physical. It had something to do with his body. That tidbit of information has been enough for Bible scholars to speculate at great lengths just what his thorn in the flesh was. I won’t make this sermon unnecessarily longer by delving into any of them. It’s possible that the Corinthians Christians didn’t even know what Paul’s thorn was. So, why wouldn’t the Holy Spirit have caused Paul to let his readers and us know? I can think of several reasons and the best one for our purposes this morning is this: so that we can better identify with Paul. Every one of us can say, “Paul had a thorny issue in his life. So do I.” So, what’s yours? It’s likely something that you pray about, just as Paul did. It’s something that bothers you. It probably has for a long time. Maybe even your entire life. And you’ve prayed to the Lord about it far more than the three times Paul did. So, why doesn’t the Lord take it away? Why doesn’t he solve this thorny issue in your life? Why doesn’t he lift the burden this thorny issue is causing you so that you can live happier? If you didn’t have this issue confronting you each day, imagine all the good things you could accomplish for others and your Lord each day. But the Lord chooses to let you continue to deal with it…every day. And here’s the divine answer to all those questions about your thorny issue: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Your position is that your life would be so much better without your thorny issue. God’s perspective is that your life is so much better with your thorny issue. Why? Because it reminds you every day that you aren’t so great, so powerful, so wonderful. No pretenses. You really don’t have everything in your life in order. There’s at least one aspect of your life in which you need your Lord’s help. In other words, your thorny issue drives you to Jesus, your Savior. And there’s no better place to be. Let me repeat: Your thorny issue drives you to Jesus, and there’s no better place to be. So, it appears that Jesus intends for you to continue dealing with your thorny issue for the time being. Perhaps for the rest of your life on earth. That might be more than a little depressing. “You mean my thorny issue doesn’t get resolved this side of heaven?” Maybe not. And thank God for it! Yes, thank God for it. Why do I say that? Because the sinful human heart—mine included—has a wicked propensity to self-idolize. And you and I see it in others all the time. We meet and know people who think far too much of themselves. If your thorny issue prevents that from happening, then praise God! Let that thorny issue remind you every day of your natural sinful condition and your daily sins against your holy God. And may it drive you to Jesus, your Savior from sin, who went to the cross with thorns jammed into his skull in order to die for you on the hill called the Skull. II. Paul ends our text with this oxymoron, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” We think he wrote those words about 55 AD. Within 10 years, Paul would appear to be at his weakest. Paul might have been beheaded. That would have been “humane.” Perhaps on his knees or lying prone on his back, he faced one or more ferocious lions who tore at his flesh while masses of psychologically sick Roman spectators watched the carnage as a form of entertainment. And all because he refused to deny Jesus as his Lord and Savior. From almost any vantage point, the world would say Paul lost. He failed. He was a colossal disappointment. Not so. At that point Paul lived this truth: nothing in this world matters. The only thing that matters is my relationship with Jesus. And there it is—my confidence and yours as we deal with our thorny issues in life. Are you facing an issue for which there seems to be no solution? Is there something in your life that squeezes the joy out of your heart? Does daily and nightly pain drive you to wonder how much longer you can endure it? Are there times when your thorny issue causes you to dream of just throwing in the towel and giving up? Realize that’s when you—like Paul—are at your weakest. Weakest physically. But that’s also the moment when you can be the strongest. How? In Christ. In Christ. And that’s the way life is in God’s kingdom. It’s upside down. Jesus spoke about that very thing in today’s Gospel reading. In another portion of God’s word we read, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor. 4:17). And with that divine truth in front of us, we can join Paul in declaring, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.” Can we talk about your thorny issues? I hope so. If so, here’s one more question: How do you react to them? For every time you have fallen apart spiritually, given up on God, blamed him for what you face, go to the cross of Christ. There’s the One who faced the thorny issue of your sins and the hell you deserve and came out on top. He died and rose again to assure you that no thorny issue in life can separate you from the love of God. Your Lord is using all things in your life to keep you close to him and to draw you to himself in amazing glory once your thorny life is ended. As you bear your crosses each day, keep your eyes of faith on the cross of Christ. There’s your hope. There’s your certainty. There’s your guarantee. Your life here in this thorny world and your eternal life are in the hands of your loving Lord Jesus. Can we talk about your thorny issues? Let’s do that as we remain under the cross of Christ. Amen.