Prayed Three Times (1-26-12)

2 Corinthians 12:8 - "Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me."

Here in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 the apostle Paul is talking about a "thorn in the flesh" that was tormenting him, and he says that he asked the Lord to remove. To get the context, in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 we read - "Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me--to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness" Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
A strange idea is presented to us in this chapter. Christ tells Paul that His strength is made perfect through Paul's weakness. Paul had a trial, a struggle in his life that he could not deal with. He says that it was a messenger of Satan sent to torment him. Paul was a servant of the Almighty God. God could've easily spoken a word and delivered Paul from the torment that he was experiencing, but rather than delivering him from it He teaches Paul to rely on Him through it. Paul knew that he didn't have the strength to handle whatever trial he was facing, but God was teaching that even when we're faced with a situation that's too big for us it's not too big for Him.
When Paul was faced with this thorn in the flesh we're told that he prayed three times for God to deliver him from it. Paul prayed three times for deliverance before he realized that it was Gods will for him to have this thorn in the flesh. Another situation where we see someone praying for deliverance is in the garden of Gethsemane. In Matthew chapter 26 the Lord Jesus went with His disciples to the garden of Gethsemane to pray and this is what it says in verse 39 - "And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt." And verse 42 - "He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Thy will be done." and we read again in verse 44 - "And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more." Three times Jesus prayed that if there were another way that the Father would bring that about, but the ending of His prayers are very important - "not as I will, but as You will." There was no other way for God to bring about our redemption. Jesus had to go to the cross. He knew that it was going to be painful and uncomfortable, and John tells us that He knew everything that was about to happen to Him, but He went through with it to purchase our redemption because there was no other way. It was Gods will for Christ to go to the cross. Isaiah tells us that it pleased the Father to bruise Him.

Sometimes it's not Gods will to deliver us from a hard situation. Sometimes God wants to use the difficult circumstances in our lives to bring us closer to Him, to teach us more about Himself and to make us rely on Him and His strength and resources rather than our own. Jesus prayed three times, Paul prayed three times. God wants us to make our requests known to Him and there are situations in our lives that we implore the Lord to deliver us from, but we always need to follow up our requests by saying "Nevertheless, not my will, but Yours be done." If it's Gods will for us to remain in a difficult situation we can rest assured that it's for our good.