“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17)
There are some things that are hard for us to face. Why? Because to do so would mean the end of hope. We are creatures that are programmed to hope. One ray of sunshine can cause us to feel that brighter days are ahead. But then we are plunged back into the customary gloom.
When facing unpleasant situations we ask ourselves, “Why does this have to be?” We conclude that “if only” this or that would change, everything would be great. But what if “this or that” doesn’t change? What if “this or that” won’t change? What if God wants to use the very thing that clouds our existence to pour His sunshine into our heart?
Whatever Paul’s thorn in the flesh was, he wanted it to end. He prayed once, twice, three times for it to go away. But it wouldn’t. And even more mind-blowing – God wanted it to stay. What place did Paul have to get to before he could start reaping the benefits of this situation? A place of acceptance, where he stopped fighting to see the situation changed. He got honest with himself: “This is not going to end (at least anytime soon.)” He decided he was going to dig in and start receiving God’s all sufficient grace. He was going to admit his powerlessness and let the power of Christ rest upon him. And he would become more concerned about the pleasure of God being fulfilled in his life than his displeasure being removed.
The things we go through have the power to torment us, if we let them. Especially the unpleasant, unrelenting facts of our existence. God helped Paul to put things into a perspective that relieved him of sorrow and panic. As great and as long as Paul suffered he came to call his afflictions “light” and “but for a moment.” He did so because he began to see that they were the very things that had the potential to work great gain in his life – even a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
Each of us must come to the revelation that God gave Paul. Sometimes, our greatest victories are achieved only after we’ve gotten honest with ourselves and admitted defeat.