DAY 9 | Why God Doesn’t Remove Every Problem. Even When You Beg Him To | Excuses God Didn’t Accept

There are seasons in our lives when we come before God with the same request again and again, asking Him to remove the thing that feels too heavy to carry. 

We pray with sincerity. We plead with intensity. We believe with all our hearts that the problem would disappear if God would simply lift it. And when nothing changes, we quietly wonder: “Why won’t God take this away?” 

We are learning today from the life of the Apostle Paul.

And you know, many believers reference Paul’s writings. They quote his letters, they highlight his verses, they admire his revelations. Yet very few pause long enough to live the way Paul actually lived. 

Paul wrote about salvation and faith, life in the Spirit, Christian living, church and community, suffering and endurance, and he also wrote about the future hope.

Today, we want to talk specifically about Paul’s endurance. But he didn’t just write about endurance; he embodied it. He didn’t just teach about grace; he depended on it. He didn’t just preach about strength in weakness; he experienced it moment by moment. 

Paul’s theology wasn’t theory. It was survival. And for him, the thorn was not a metaphor; it was a reality he woke up with every day.

The context is important. 

Paul had experienced visions, revelations, miracles, and deep spiritual insight. He had seen God move in extraordinary ways. But in the midst of this spiritual elevation, something hit his life that did not go away. 

2 Corinthians 12:7 (NIV) says, “Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh…” 

Scripture does not tell us exactly what the thorn was, and that silence allows every believer to see themselves in the text. For some, the thorn is physical pain. For others, emotional struggle, limitations, weaknesses, difficult people, or ongoing circumstances. 

Whatever it was, Paul wanted it gone. Can anyone identify?

Paul didn’t make a casual request. 2 Corinthians 12:8 (NIV) tells us, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.” This wasn’t a light prayer. It was pleading. Earnest. Repeated. Desperate. 

And yet, heaven did not respond with removal. It responded with revelation.

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV) records God’s answer: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” 

Family, don’t we often find ourselves referencing that verse? Sadly, few of us truly apply it. 

Many believers admire Paul’s strength while resisting the process that produced it. We want Paul’s anointing without Paul’s dependency. We want Paul’s revelation without Paul’s thorn. We want Paul’s power without Paul’s weakness.

Anytime we run into a little problem or roadblock or difficulty, we want to give up…quick, quick.

But catch this: We don’t have to think that God is punishing us. Like Paul, God was preserving him as He wants to do for us today as well. 

God allowed something to remain in Paul’s life to anchor him, to humble him, and to keep him spiritually grounded. The thorn didn’t weaken Paul’s ministry; it deepened it. The pain didn’t lessen his calling; it sharpened it. And the unanswered prayer didn’t break Paul’s faith; it matured it. 

Psalm 119:71 (NIV) captures this beautifully: “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.” 

Paul learned God’s character not only from miracles but from dependence.

Another scripture that echoes this truth comes from Romans 5:3–4 (NIV): “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” 

Notice how Paul writes this not as a theory, but as testimony. He understood that God sometimes allows certain struggles to continue because they develop strength, character, and dependence on Him — things we would never gain if life were always easy.

And then there’s Isaiah 40:29 (NIV), which says, “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” 

That is not a promise for the strong. It is a promise for those who admit weakness - not as an identity, but as a moment of need where God steps in with strength.

Paul reached that point when he declared in 2 Corinthians 12:10 (NIV), “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 

Family, strength is found not in our ability to handle life, but in our willingness to depend on God when life becomes unmanageable.

Many of us beg God to remove the very thing that is teaching us to pray, to trust, to grow, and to rely on Him. Some problems remain not because God is ignoring us, but because He is shaping us. Some thorns stay not because we lack faith, but because God is building a deeper faith. Some struggles don’t disappear because purpose is born in pressure, and calling is refined in dependency.

So if we find ourselves in a season where we have begged God to take something away and it still remains, hear this clearly: God has not abandoned you. And that’s for me as well. 

God’s grace has not run out. His power has not left our lives. 

What God did for Paul, He is doing for us — giving strength in weakness, power in pressure, and grace that meets us every single day.

Let’s remember that our thorn is not a sign of God’s neglect. It is a platform for His power. 

And the place where we feel the weakest may be the very place God is preparing to show Himself the strongest.