In order to set this article in proper order, one must understand that Saul was the head Pharisee under the High Priest Caiaphas who ordered the execution of Jesus Christ. Saul after Jesus crucifixion and resurrection begins to go about the countryside seeking out, persecuting, and executing any person perceived to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus.
While on the road to Damascus, seeking out the loyal followers of Jesus, to persecute them and prosecute them for their devotion to this new-found thing called Christianity, the most feared and detested persecutors, a leader of the Pharisees name Saul of Tarsus, is recruited by Christ Jesus Himself.
ACTS: 9: 1-9 In this mentioned scripture Saul and Jesus Christ have an encountering whereby Jesus demands from Saul why Saul continues to persecute Jesus, and Jesus disciples.
"And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the diciples of the Lord went unto the High Priest and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they be men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, "Saul, Saul why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord what wilt thou have me do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the city and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless hearing a voice but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man. And he was three days without sight, and neither did he eat nor drink."
Saul was made blind by Jesus to teach him humility because of his over powering pride and his contempt for Jesus and His followers who he had relentlessly sought out and persecuted, since Jesus Crucifixion and resurrection. This was one lesson that the Chief Priest Caiaphas, and the Pharisees, and the Synogogue hierarchy could not afford to have spreading around to the Jews, the Israelite nations and all of the other nations known in their world at that time. In their minds Christ’s resurrection could not happen and did not happen, and to speak such a thing was to blastpheme against God.
II-CORINTHIANS:11: 21-33 and 12: 1-10
Paul describes his suffering to the people of Corinth.
Chapter 11.
"I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also. Are they Hebrew? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons, more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews, five times received I fourty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep; In journeyings often in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in peril by mine own countrymen, in perils by heathens, in perils in the cities, in perils in the wilderness, in peril in the seas, in perils amongst false bretheren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often in hunger and thirst, in fastings often in cold and nakedness. Besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended and I burn not? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus the governor under Aretas, the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison desirous to apprehend me. And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall and escaped his hand."
Chapter 12.
It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of The Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth;) such a one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one will I glory: yet, of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now, I for-bear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me 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.
Saul, the Apostle Paul, offers to the people of Corinth this teaching, that they might learn that joy and contentment can be attained through suffering, and that Almighty God liberally applies His Grace to all that are made to wrongfully suffer in glorifying God and Jesus. It is through this knowledge, with regarding our own faithfulness to Our Lord that we as Christian Followers of Our Lord Jesus Christ receive in abundance the Grace of Almighty God, that turns our hardships into joyful tasks, our pain and suffering into peace joy and contentment, our punishments into acts of love and learnings.
Paul suffers right up to the end when he is, like John the Baptist jailed and beheaded, Martyred in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ for the Glory of Almighty God.