Dr. David Shin, president of Ouachita Hills College, gives a message that reflects on Paul’s journey of strength through weakness.

<p>Dr. David Shin, president of Ouachita Hills College, gives a message that reflects on Paul’s journey of strength through weakness.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Ouachita Hills College

David Shin

When I’m the Weakest, Then I’m the Strongest

This message was recorded on the campus of Wachita Hills College.

For more information visit our website www.ohc.org.

Father in heaven, thank you for the Sabbath hours that are soon to be upon us for this reminder of creation and redemption.

We thank you that we can rest in the assurance that it is God and God alone that can make us holy and we rest in that every 7 days.

And Lord this weekend we are recognizing the work that you've done in the lives of these graduates.

May your spirit abide here on this campus.

Lord, I recognize that I am weak, frail, a human being that is in need of your grace and your power.

And I pray that for your glory this evening, that you would use this feeble instrument to speak words that through the unction of your Holy Spirit would touch hearts, that you'd move us, convict us by your grace.

For we ask these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ.

Our passage of reflection this evening is taken from 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 7.

I invite you, if you have your Bibles, to turn with me to this passage.

It's a reflection of Paul where he's giving a very personal account of a struggle, a challenge in his life, in his Christian experience.

2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 7, And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given me a messenger of Satan To buffet me lest I be exalted above measure If you permit me this evening I want to ask some research questions in regards to this passage.

He uses this metaphor of a thorn in the flesh.

Maybe we haven't had a particular thorn, but all of us probably have had a splinter in our skin.

They just hang out in our consciousness, And it's just a little thing that is there, embedded within our skin.

And I've had splinters for days that just will not go away.

And every time I reach for something, the pain is there in the background.

I can still operate, but it is always there in a nagging sense in our consciousness.

So he uses this metaphor, the a thorn in the flesh.

Comparing scripture with scripture, you can see that there is, there are some clues as to what this thorn may be, and it's found in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 11.

I'm going to read it so you can just jot them down for your own reference.

He says, you see how I have a, you see how large a letter I have written unto you with my own hand.

In Galatians, he says, look, I wrote this with my own hand.

Prior to this, he would use literary assistance to help him write his letters.

And you get other evidences of what this thorn may be in Acts chapter 22 and verse 30.

Now going back to that other text, you're wondering why that gives us some clues.

You know, why is it that Paul makes a big deal that he wrote this letter himself.

It seems that there were some inabilities that he had.

Another clue that we receive is in Acts chapter 22 and verse 30, And those who stood by said, Do you revile the high priest?

Then Paul said, I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest.

For it is written, You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people." So Paul is before the Sanhedrin and he's talking to the high priest and he speaks in a way that the people around him are like, look, you're being kind of, your language is not giving the due respect to this individual.

And then Paul says, oh, I didn't know it was the high priest.

And in Galatians chapter 4 verse 15, we have almost an explicit reference to the disability that Paul had.

Galatians chapter 4 verse 15, What then was the blessing you enjoyed?

For I bear you witness that if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.

You put these passages together and there's a picture that seems to emerge here.

The reason why Paul used literary assistance and he makes a big deal in Galatians.

And the reason why Paul was not able to recognize the high priest, which would have been very apparent by the nature of the clothing that he was wearing.

And the reason why he told the church in Galatia, you had pity on me and you would have given me your own eyes if you could, is because Paul had poor eyesight, poor vision.

It was so bad that he struggled to write his own letters.

The pen of inspiration clarifies what the thorn in the flesh actually was.

He thought that by earnest prayer, the difficulty might be removed.

And he said to Paul, speak to me no more about this matter.

It will enable you to bear the infirmity." Paul's thorn in the flesh was poor eyesight.

The question arises, where did he get it?

In Ellen White, Sketches from the Life of Paul, page 34, says, Paul was ever to carry about with him in body the marks of Christ's glory, his eyes which had been blinded by the heavenly light.

In other words, on the road to Damascus, when he saw Jesus.

Remember, he was blind for 3 days and afterwards, Ananias came and laid hands on him and things like scales fell from his eyes.

But the spirit of prophecy seems to indicate that he never fully regained his eyesight.

And she says he was to bear that in his body until the day of his death.

With this picture that emerges from the biblical references and the affirmation from the spirit of prophecy, I want to read this passage again that we just read here tonight.

First Corinthians, second Corinthians chapter 12 in verse 7.

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure." The question is, why the thorn?

And it says here, lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of revelation.

When you read Acts of the Apostles, during those 3 days, he was having a Bible study in his head.

After he was blinded by Jesus Christ, reference after reference, a Bible study in his mind.

The Pentateuch in his head, a member of the Sanhedrin.

You don't get to be a member of the 70 by being soft intellectually.

This man was a genius, brilliant, erudite, articulate, a man that could hold his own in any academic arena.

By far the most educated and sophisticated out of all the apostles, he could hold his own.

And he wrote the majority of the New Testament in terms of the most prolific writer.

Not only was he the most prolific writer, he was a combination of a theologian, Hazel, for those that know in academia, in Adventism.

I don't think anyone's written, risen to the level of Dr.

Anchor Bible Dictionary, reference from Hazel, Adventist theologian and dean.

Gerhard Hasel, but he was also Mark Finley, evangelist that won thousands and raised up churches.

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When I’m the Weakest, Then I’m the Strongest

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