Satan Never Has the Last Word
We have a tendency to really latch on to biblical questions that—for whatever reason—the Bible writers don’t give us answers on. Like the Apostle Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12). We don’t know exactly what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was—and I suspect that this is intentional. Commentaries, of course, spill great amounts of ink over speculations. Some say it was Paul’s eyesight—that he had an eye disease, causing his eyes to ooze. It was gross, painful, and made it hard for him to see. There are several things written in Paul’s epistles that seem to indicate he had eye problems like that (cf. Galatians 6:11).
Others say, “No, he’s referring to certain people who were ‘a thorn in his side.’” And, it’s true, Paul had a lot of those, too—bloggers, podcasters, and documentarians who said all kinds of unkind and untrue things about him. Paul pleaded with God, saying, “God, please shut these people up; what they are saying is not true, and it hurts our ministry.” But God said, “No, Paul, I’m going to let them keep running their mouths and publishing their books to cause you problems.” So, these commentators say, Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was his haters. And maybe that’s true, too.
But here’s a Bible-study-pro-tip for you: Whenever the Holy Spirit leaves something vague in Scripture, he leaves it vague on purpose. What, do you think, is the Holy Spirit’s purpose in leaving this vague and not telling us what Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was? I think the answer is obvious.
It was so that you and I could apply what he says about him to us.
You see, if Paul had told us what his thorn was, we’d play the comparison game: ”Well, what I have is nothing compared to what Paul had. Mine’s not even worth talking about—it’s a first-world problem—and God probably doesn’t even care about it.” Or, if we figured out ours was worse than Paul’s, we’d say, “That’s it? That’s all Paul was dealing with? A little eye pain? Mine is way worse. See, no one really understands my pain, and there’s no way God could have a good purpose for me in something this bad.”
And then, obnoxiously, if you happened to have the exact same thorn as Paul had, you’d probably boast about it, saying, ”Well, you know, me and Paul … we have the exact same eye-goo problem. So, clearly that makes me like Paul, and makes me special.” So, the Holy Spirit leaves Paul’s affliction vague so that you can apply what Paul says about his to yours.
Our Pastor of Counseling at the Summit, Dr. Brad Hambrick, says that suffering is not a competitive sport. I love that. My suffering does not gain or lose meaning in comparison to yours. Suffering is suffering, and God wants you to learn to see your suffering, whatever it is, through the same lens Paul looked at his through. The most important thing here is to see how Paul processes his suffering.
The purpose of this thorn, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:7, was “to keep [him] from becoming conceited.” We can also notice that Paul attributes his pain to three sources:
- Flesh - Paul calls it a “thorn of the flesh” in verse 7, which means it’s some problem caused by flesh and blood.
- Satan - Later in verse 7, Paul calls it a “messenger of Satan,” which means this physical thing had a spiritual component to it. He says that Satan is using this physical thing to attack, discourage, and tempt him—to slow him down and wear him out.
- God - Still in verse 7, he says this thorn was “given” to him in the flesh … by whom? You might say Satan, but that can’t be because why would Satan want to keep Paul from being conceited? This means that, ultimately, his thorn was given by God.
My friend H.B. Charles says, “The thorn may come through Satan, but the thorn comes from God—and that’s good news.” Why is that good news? Because it means God is using even the affliction of Satan to work good in you. God is not the one inflicting the pain, because God doesn’t do things like that; that’s Satan’s work. But God commandeers Satan’s destruction, what the enemy intends for evil, and uses it for good. I’m talking about things like:
- Marriage problems
- Bodily afflictions
- Slow career advancement
- An ongoing temptation
- Problems with your friends
- A boss who doesn’t understand you
- Financial frustrations
- Loneliness
- Problems with one of your kids
Paul summarizes a whole grab bag of possibilities for what these “thorns” might be in verse 10 when he says, “weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities …” Some of you experience these things and you say, “This trial is caused by Satan. I know it. I can feel Satan’s power at work in it. It is bringing me down and destroying me.” Yeah, maybe. But see, if you are a believer, Satan never has the last word in your life. Your affliction, your weakness, may be caused by your flesh, your failures, your enemies, or even Satan himself, but ultimately they are from God for your good.
Just because a thorn is from Satan doesn’t mean you can anoint it with oil, say an incantation over it, and get rid of it. God has a purpose in Satan’s afflictions. And sometimes—hear me—he leaves them in place. The beautiful mystery of God’s sovereignty is that even what others intend for evil, even what Satan intends for evil, God commandeers for good.
Paul says, “I know Satan is at work in this trial, but I also know he doesn’t get the last word. Satan’s purpose in this may be to afflict and destroy, but God has a greater purpose—to keep me from becoming conceited.” That’s so important, he says it twice.
Listen: The greatest enemy in your life is not Satan, or your critics, or your spouse, or your boss, or your circumstances. It’s your pride, your sense of self-sufficiency, the sense that you have what it takes to overcome all the challenges in your life.
Pride is the queen mother of all sins, and it leads to a whole colony of other sins. When you’re proud, you’re not desperate to know God’s will. You don’t really pray a lot. You’re not afraid of getting separated from God’s will. Someone humble is terrified of being separated from God’s blessing. They’re like Moses, who said, “I won’t go anywhere that you won’t go with me.”
A lot of your spiritual problems—prayerlessness, laziness, disobedience—go back to your pride, so God allows certain kinds of suffering to keep you from it. Sometimes, he lets you continue to struggle with sinful temptations. Here’s some honest talk you won’t hear a lot in church: Do you ever wonder why God lets you continue to struggle with certain temptations even when you’ve asked him to take them away? The answer: to keep you from becoming conceited.
I don’t know about you, but if I walked around victorious over all my temptations immediately, my sinful heart would for sure conclude that I was really good at this obeying Jesus thing: “There ain’t never been a Christian like me! I’m the greatest Christian who ever lived, the man after God’s own heart.” Which would fill me with pride, which, ironically, would make me more like Satan than Jesus.
(Look, I know all of you are thinking it. I’m just being honest and saying it.)
I love how C.S. Lewis put it, “God sometimes even lets us struggle with lesser sins to keep us from the greatest one: pride.” I figure God lets me struggle with some recurring temptations so that I will say with Paul, “Oh wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?” And “I am convinced that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells …”
In my library, I have this book of letters by John Newton, the writer of the famous hymn “Amazing Grace.” One of my favorites is one he wrote to a pastor friend who had confessed that he was having some sinful struggles and was really discouraged by them. Newton, who was in his 80s by this point, wrote this young pastor back and said he’d always assumed that by this point in his life, in his 80s, after walking with God for 50 to 60 years, that he would have left most temptations behind. He said that some of those temptations, however, felt stronger than ever—at 80! At first, that made him depressed, wondering if something was fundamentally wrong with him, but he said he now realized that God let him continue to struggle with some of these sinful temptations and probably would until the day he died to keep him from the worst sin: pride. True growth in grace, he said, this side of the resurrection, doesn’t mean getting to a place where you no longer feel like you need God’s grace, but growing in your awareness of just how desperate for God’s grace that you really are.
God may let you struggle with certain sins so that you will stay closely tethered to his grace. That doesn’t mean you ever stop praying for victory or that you stop fighting against it. That’s a big part of what God wants you to learn to do. It just means that God is up to something good, even in delaying the answer to deliver you from your temptations.
I wonder: Where is pride creeping up on you? Where have you succeeded … and your success has gotten you to the point where you say, “I built this! I’ve got this,” and you’re no longer desperate for God’s grace? Maybe, like Paul, God has allowed you to experience some brokenness or hurt—he has given you a thorn in the flesh, so to speak—so you can lean more fully into him.
Pastor J.D. completed his Ph.D. in Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Chick-fil-A, serves as a Council member for The Gospel Coalition, and recently served as the 62nd president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Pastor J.D. and his wife Veronica are raising four awesome kids.
"Editor's Note: Pastor JD Greear's "Ask the Pastor" column regularly appears at Christianity.com, providing biblical, relatable, and reliable answers to your everyday questions about faith and life. Email him your questions at requests@jdgreear.com."
