Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 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. ESVUK

These verses bring us to the essence, the heartbeat of Paul’s theme in 2 Corinthians, and they also show the essential difference between Paul and those ”super-apostles” (11:5) who thought so highly of themselves and who were undermining him. Paul walked the way of the Cross. He did have a powerful ministry, in spite of any aspersions they cast upon him. But he experienced Easter Sunday power via Good Friday weakness.

Sometimes we pray earnestly for the removal of some difficulty, but God does not remove it because He knows better than us what is good for us (and also what will be good for others through us).

‘God gives us an answer to all our prayers, but He may not give us the answer we hoped for. His answer will be better for us than what we had hoped for. God answers our prayers not in the way we ask, but in a way that will lead to our greatest good. And He knows far better than we do how to achieve our greatest good. God always gives His children good gifts (Matthew 7:9-11). For Paul, that thorn was a ”good gift.” Tom Hale