Why Paul’s ‘Thorn in the Flesh’ Was Not a Sickness!
WELCOME to Issue #267 of The Seedhead from Alex and Hannah at Dandelion Resourcing
- a weekly confidence booster to help you step into naturally supernatural discipleship and mission!
God doesn’t leave you sick to improve your character
Many Christians mistakenly believe that Paul’s discussion about having been given a “thorn in the flesh” by God (2 Corinthians 12:7) is a reference to a sickness. If so, that would demonstrate that God sometimes gives people illnesses, and then doesn’t take them away, because it is somehow doing their character good.
However, this is a complete misreading of the text, both in context (the surrounding couple of chapters), as well as the way this unusual phrase is used elsewhere in Scripture.
Instead of being about sickness, it is about spiritual warfare manifested through human opposition.
(Here are the two OT texts that Alex mis-remembered! Joshua 23:13 and Ezekiel 28:24.)
Watch here to find out more:
Next Steps
1. Where have you allowed this thinking (e.g. “Sometimes God leaves you sick to improve your character”) into your way you process sickness? Are you willing to repent of and renounce that falsehood?
2. What is the new thinking that you need to take on? Maybe write out an “I believe that…” statement, along with a supporting Scripture, and refer back to it daily over the next few weeks, so that this works itself into your everyday theology.
With love,
Alex + Hannah
ALEX AND HANNAH ABSALOM
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