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We are not accustomed to think of weakness - as a condition of blessing. We would say, “Blessed is strength. Blessed are the strong.” But Bible beatitudes are usually the reverse of what nature would say. “Blessed are the meek;” “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you.” The law of the cross lies deep in spiritual life. It is by the crucifying of the flesh - that the spirit grows into beauty. So, “Blessed are the weak - for they shall have God’s strength,” is a true Scriptural beatitude, although its very words are not found in the Bible.

The heart of Christ goes out in peculiar interest toward the weak. Paul could well afford to keep his “thorn” with its burdening weakness, because it made him far more the object of divine sympathy and help. So weakness always makes strong appeal to the divine compassion. We think of suffering or feebleness as a misfortune. It is not altogether so, however, if it makes us dearer and brings us nearer to the heart of Christ. Blessed is weakness, for it draws to itself the strength of God!

Weakness is blessed, also, because it saves from spiritual peril. Paul tells us that his “thorn” was given to him to keep him humble. Without it he would have been exalted over much and would have lost his spirituality. We do not know how much of his deep insight into the things of God, and his power in service for his Master, Paul owed to this torturing “thorn.” It seemed to hinder him and it caused him incessant suffering - but it detained him in the low valley of humility, made him ever conscious of his own weakness and insufficiency, and thus kept him near to Christ whose home is with the humble.

Spiritual history is full of similar cases. Many of God’s noblest servants have carried “thorns” in their flesh all their days - but meanwhile they have had spiritual blessing and enrichment which they never would have had, if their cries for relief had been granted. We do not know what we owe to the sufferings of those who have gone before us. Prosperity has not enriched the world - as adversity has done. The best thoughts, the richest life lessons, the sweetest songs that have come down to us from the past - have not come from lives that have known no privation, no adversity - but are the fruits of pain, of weakness, of trial. Men have cried out for emancipation from the bondage of hardship, of sickness, of infirmity, of self-denying necessity; not knowing that the thing which seemed to be hindering them in their career - was the very making of whatever was noble, beautiful, and blessed in their life.

There are few people who have not some “thorn” rankling in their flesh. In one it is an infirmity of speech, in another an infirmity of sight, in another an infirmity of hearing. Or it may be lameness, or a disease, slow but incurable, or constitutional timidity, or excessive nervousness, or a disfiguring bodily deformity, or an infirmity of temper. Or it may be in one’s home, which is cold, unloving, and uncongenial; or it may be in the life of a loved one - sorrow or moral failure; or it may be a bitter personal disappointment through untrue friendship or love unrequited. Who has not his “thorn”?

We should never forget that in one sense our “thorn” is a “messenger of Satan,” who desires by it to hurt our life, to mar our peace, to spoil the divine beauty in us, to break our communion with Christ. On the other hand, however, Christ Himself has a loving design in our “thorn.” He wants it to be a blessing to us. He would have it keep us humble - and save us from becoming vain; or He means it to soften our hearts and make us more gentle. He would have the uncongenial things in our environment discipline us into heavenly-mindedness, give us greater self-control, help us to keep our hearts loving and sweet amid harshness and unlovingness. He would have our pain teach us endurance and patience, and our sorrow and loss teach us faith.

That is, our “thorn” may either be a blessing to us, or it may do us irreparable harm - which, it depends upon ourselves. If we allow it to fret us; if we chafe, resist, and complain; if we lose faith and lose heart - it will spoil our life. But if we accept it in the faith that in its ugly burden, it has a blessing for us; if we endure it patiently, submissively, unmurmuringly; if we seek grace to keep our heart gentle and true amid all the trial, temptation, and suffering it causes - it will work good, and out of its bitterness will come sweet fruit. The responsibility is ours, and we should so relate ourselves to our “thorn” and to Christ, that growth and good, not harm and marring, shall come to us from it. Such weakness is blessed only if we get the victory over it, through faith in Christ.

“And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (II Cor. 12: 9-10). There is a blessing in weakness, also, because it nourishes dependence on God. When we are strong, or deem ourselves strong, we are really weak, since then we trust in ourselves and do not seek divine help. But when we are consciously weak, knowing ourselves unequal to our duties and struggles, we are strong, because then we turn to God and get His strength.

Too many people think their weakness is a barrier to their usefulness, or make it an excuse for doing little with their life. Instead of this, however, if we give it to Christ, He will transform it into strength. He says His strength is made perfect in weakness; that is, what is lacking in human strength He fills and makes up with divine strength. Paul had learned this when he said he gloried now in his weaknesses, because on account of them, the strength of Christ rested upon him, so that, when he was weak, then he was strong—strong with divine strength. (Adapted from Grace Gems)