THEREFORE I AM
WELL CONTENT WITH WEAKNESSES, WITH INSULTS, WITH DISTRESSES, WITH
PERSECUTIONS, WITH DIFFICULTIES, FOR CHRIST'S SAKE: dio eudoko (1SPAI) en astheneiais, en hubresin, en anagkais, en
diothmois kai stenochoriais, huper Christou:
(2Co 1:4; 4:8, 9, 10,17; 7:4; Acts 5:41; Romans 5:3; 8:35, 36, 37, 38, 39;
Philippians 1:29; 2:17,18; Colossians 1:24; James 1:2; 1Peter 1:6,7;
4:13,14) (Weaknesses - 2Co 11:23-30) (For Christ's sake - 2Co 4:5,11; 10:18;
Luke 6:22; John 15:21; 1Corinthians 4:10; Revelation 2:3) (2Co 12:9; 13:4,9;
Ephesians 6:10)
How Firm a Foundation
When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply:
The flame shall not hurt thee, I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
-John Rippon
For a longer list of adversities see the
previous chapter (2Co 11:23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29). Keep in mind that the
greater context of Paul's teaching in 2Cor 12:9, 10 is the defense of His
ministry against false apostles.
Therefore
(1352)
(dio) explains that in view of the truth that divine power is
magnified by human weakness, Paul is well pleased with his condition.
Albert Barnes writes...
Since so many benefits result from trials; since my afflictions are the
occasion of obtaining the favor of Christ in so eminent a degree, I rejoice
in the privilege of suffering. There is often real pleasure in affliction,
paradoxical as it may appear (cp Acts 5:41). Some of the happiest persons I
have known are those who have been deeply afflicted; some of the purest joys
which I have witnessed have been manifested on a sick bed, and in the
prospect of death. And I have no doubt that Paul, in the midst of all his
infirmities and reproaches, had a joy above that which all the wealth and
honour of the world could give. See here the power of religion. It not only
supports--it comforts. It not only enables one to bear suffering with
resignation, but it enables him to rejoice. Philosophy blunts the feelings;
infidelity leaves men to murmur and repine in trial; the pleasures of this
world have no power even to support or comfort in times of affliction; but
Christianity. furnishes positive pleasure in trial, and enables the sufferer
to smile through his tears.
Oh, let us rejoice in the Lord, evermore,
When darts of the tempter are flying,
For Satan still dreads, as he oft did of yore,
Our singing much more than our sighing."
I am well content
- "I delight" (NIV), "I take
pleasure" (NKJV). Below is an example of a saint who models well
content...
Several years ago the Presbyterian pastor Lloyd John Ogilvie
underwent the worst year of his life. His wife had undergone five major
surgeries, plus radiation and chemotherapy, several of his staff members had
departed, large problems loomed, and discouragement assaulted his feelings.
But he wrote,
The greatest discovery that I have made in the midst of all the difficulties
is that I can have joy when I can’t feel like it—artesian joy. When I
had every reason to feel beaten, I felt joy. In spite of everything, [God]
gave me the conviction of being loved and the certainty that nothing could
separate me from Him. It was not happiness, gush, or jolliness but a
constant flow of the Spirit through me (Ed: Sounds like 2Co 12:9
grace!). At no time did He give me the easy confidence that everything would
work out as I wanted it on my timetable, but that He was in charge and would
give me and my family enough courage for each day: grace. Joy is
always the result of that. (Hughes, R. K.. James : Faith that Works.
Preaching the Word. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books)
I am well content
(2106)
(eudokeo from eu = good, well + dokeo = to think ; see word study on related word
eudokía)
means literally to think good, and so to be pleased or delighted.
The
present tense
emphasizes that taking pleasure in variegated negative circumstances was
Paul's continual mindset. The adverse circumstances did not deter him from
"taking pleasure" (not of course in a masochistic way but with an
understanding of what these circumstances were producing). James calls
(commands) his readers to a similar mindset in James 1, not because of the
trials themselves but because of what the trials were working out in their
lives.
Zodhiates explains that eudokeo...
means to think well of something by understanding not only what is right and
good, as in dokeo, but stressing the willingness and freedom of an
intention or resolve regarding what is good (Lk 12:32; Ro 15:26, 27; 1Co
1:21; Ga 1:15; Col 1:19; 1Th 2:8).
(Zodhiates,
S. The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament. AMG
or
Logos)
Adam Clarke paraphrases
this verse...
I not only endure them patiently, but am
pleased when they occur; for I do it for Christ’s sake-on his account; for
on his account I suffer.
Illustration - The hymn writer
Fanny Crosby was blinded shortly after birth as a result of a doctor's
mistake. But this remarkable woman overcame her disability to live a long
and productive life. She provided the church with countless hymns, and gave
a joyful testimony for Christ. Mrs. Crosby often said she was glad to be
blind, since it meant the first thing she would see was the face of Jesus.
William Wilberforce, who led
the fight to abolish slavery in the British Empire, was physically weak and
frail, but he had deep faith in God. Boswell said of him, “I saw what seemed
to me a shrimp become a whale.”
Martin Luther wrote that...
Christ's kingdom grows through tribulations
and declines in times of peace, ease and luxury.
With weaknesses, etc - As
Matthew Henry is careful to remind us Paul is not referring to...
his sinful infirmities (those we have reason to be ashamed of and grieved
at), but he means his afflictions, his reproaches,
necessities, persecutions, and distresses for Christ's sake
We see a similar attitude regarding adverse circumstances in Romans were
Paul writes to those are justified by faith in Christ...
And not only this (see Ro 5:1,2-note),
but we also exult in our tribulations (note plural! -
thlipsis [word study]),
knowing that tribulation brings about (katergazomai
[word study]
in the
present tense=
continually) perseverance (hupomone
[word study])
and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope
(elpis
[word study])
and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured
out (ekcheo
[word study];
in the
perfect tense
= speaks of the enduring effect of this
outpouring!) within our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who was given to us.
(Ro 5:3-note,
Ro 5:4, 5-note)
Weaknesses
(769) (astheneia
from a = without + sthénos = strength, bodily vigor) means
literally without strength or bodily vigor = want of strength = lacking
strength. Literally astheneia refers to bodily diseases or
ailments (Lk 5:15, 13:11, 12, Jn 5:5, 11:4, 28:9). Another meaning of
astheneia is incapacity to do or experience something, an inability to
produce results, a state of weakness or limitation (1Co 15:43; 2Co 11:30;
12:5, 9, 10, 13:4; Ro 8:27; Heb 4:15; 5:2; 7:28; 11:34) Paul's use in 1Co
2:3 conveys the sense of weakness in terms of courage.
Richards writes...
This group of words expresses
powerlessness. The weak are without strength, incapacitated in some serious
way. (Expository Dictionary)
NIDNTT writes that this group
of words (astheneia
[noun],
astheneo [verb],
asthenes
[adjective])
is formed from its opposite sthenos,
strength, with the Alpha-privative prefixed. It conveys the meaning of
powerlessness, weakness, lack of strength, and includes particularly the
verb
astheneo
(Eur., Thuc.), the noun astheneia
(Hdt., Thuc.) and the
adjective
asthenes
(Pindar, Hdt.). All three denote
primarily bodily weakness, i.e. sickness (Hdt., 4, 135; cf. also Josephus,
War 1, 76), and overlap here with the specific meaning of nosos (state of
being diseased = a malady, disease, sickness). In more general contexts, the
astheneia word-group can be used in a wider sense as the opposite of
dunamis, power (Might), or ischuros, strong, to express other sorts of
weakness, e.g. the frailty of woman, the weakness of human nature (Plato,
Leges 854a), or of human life (Hdt., 2, 47; 8, 51), but also economic
weakness, i.e. lack of influence, or poverty (Hdt., 2, 88). Only rarely is
it used for lack of conviction, moral weakness (Ed: but see use in
Heb 5:2) (Thuc., 2, 61, 2; Epictetus, Dissertationes 1, 8, 8; cf. Aristotle,
Eth. Nic. 1150b 19).
Here are the 24 uses of astheneia
in 23 verses -- ailments(1), diseases(1), illness(1), infirmities(1),
sickness(4), sicknesses(2),weak(1), weakness(8), weaknesses(4), what
weakness(1)...
Matthew 8:17 in
order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled,
saying, "He Himself took our infirmities, and carried away our
diseases." (Quote from Isa 53:4)
Comment:
To help understand the meaning of infirmities (astheneia) in this
context refer to John MacArthur's message
What Keeps Men from Christ?
Luke 5:15 But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and great
multitudes were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their
sicknesses.
Luke 8:2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and
sicknesses: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had
gone out,
Luke 13:11 And behold, there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a
sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not
straighten up at all. 12 And when Jesus saw her, He called her over
and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your sickness."
John 5:5 And a certain man was there, who had been thirty-eight years in his
sickness.
John 11:4 But when Jesus heard it, He said, "This sickness is not
unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified
by it."
Acts 28:9 And after this had happened, the rest of the people on the island
who had diseases were coming to him and getting cured.
Romans 6:19-note I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of
your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and
to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your
members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.
Comment:
Paul uses astheneia figuratively to describe human frailty and
weakness in itself. Newman and Nida write that "Paul’s use of the
phrase the weakness of your natural selves is not intended here to
have moral or ethical implications; it is only a reference to the fact that
he believes these people incapable of understanding profound truths unless
he uses analogies from everyday life... it may be necessary to qualify
“weakness” as “weakness of your understanding” or “weakness of the way in
which you, as just a human being, understand things.” (A Handbook on Paul's
letter to the Romans. UBS Handbook Series)
Romans 8:26-note And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself
intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
Comment:
In this verse the meaning of astheneia is not physical infirmity but
spiritual weakness. The weakness is defined by the context which speaks of
prayer, one of the things in the spiritual realm in which our weakness
needs His power. The weakness in context is the inability of the
saint to know what to pray for. Yes, we know the general objects of prayer,
but we do not know the specific, detailed objects of prayer in a given
emergency or situation.
Denney
says it this way...
Broadly
speaking, we do know what we are to pray for—the perfecting of salvation,
but we do not know what we are to pray for according to what is
necessary—according as the need is at the moment; we know the end, which is
common to all prayers, but not what is necessary at each crisis of need in
order to enable us to attain this end. (Expositor's Greek Testament)
1 Corinthians 2:3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in
much trembling.
1 Corinthians 15:43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is
sown in weakness, it is raised in power
Comment:
MacArthur writes that...
Our present
bodies are characterized by weakness. We are weak not only in
physical strength and endurance but also in resistance to disease and harm
Despite the marvelous natural protective mechanisms of the human body, no
one is immune from breaking a bone, cutting a leg, catching various
infections, and eventually from dying. We can and should minimize
unnecessary dangers and risks to our bodies, which for believers are temples
of the Holy Spirit (1Co 6:19, 20). But we cannot completely protect them
from harm, much less from death. Our earthly “temples” are inescapably
temporary and fragile.
2 Corinthians 11:30 If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my
weakness.
2 Corinthians 12:5 On behalf of such a man will I boast; but on my own
behalf I will not boast, except in regard to my weaknesses.
2 Corinthians 12:9 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, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10
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.
2 Corinthians 13:4 For indeed He was crucified because of weakness,
yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet
we shall live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you.
Comment:
“He was crucified because of weakness” means in respect of the physical
sufferings to which Christ voluntarily submitted in giving Himself up to the
death of the cross. MacArthur adds that "The crucifixion of Jesus
Christ is the unmistakable and supreme evidence of His weakness. His human
nature was so weak as to be fully susceptible to death."
Galatians 4:13 but you know that it was because of a bodily illness
that I preached the gospel to you the first time;
1Timothy 5:23 No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for
the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.
Comment:
In a secular Greek writing we find the text of a memorandum requesting the
purchase of a jar of wine according to the doctor’s orders!
Hebrews 4:15-note For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our
weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet
without sin.
Comment:
Weaknesses in context refers to all the natural limitations of
humanity (moral and physical), which undermine our resistance to temptation
and make it difficult for us to keep from sinning.
Hebrews 5:2-note he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he
himself also is beset (The priest himself has weakness lying around him like
a chain) with weakness;
Comment:
Weakness in context of referring to Aaron speaks of moral weakness which
makes men capable of sinning. In other words, weakness in this context is
virtually synonymous with the totally depraved nature, the moral weakness
which makes men capable of sin.
Hebrews 7:28-note For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak,
but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made
perfect forever.
Comment:
Hebrews 11:34-note quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword,
from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign
armies to flight.
There are 5 uses of
astheneia in the
Septuagint (LXX)
- Ps 15:4; Eccl 12:4; Job
37:7; Jer 6:21; 18:23
Barnhouse in his massive
exposition of Romans reiterates the importance of a proper understanding of
ministry out of our weakness rather than out of our supposed "power"...
"I am the vine, you are the branches. He
who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for without
me you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5).
How many Christians read it, "Without me you cannot do very much,"
cling to their own imagined ability, and so fail to bear fruit!
God never mingles His power
with ours. Only when we recognize our own absolute nothingness does He work
in full power. Paul learned
this when he asked for deliverance from his "thorn in the flesh." The Lord
replied, "My grace is sufficient for you; for my strength is made perfect in
weakness." (Romans)
Insults
(5196)
(hubris) describes injurious treatment or insulting injury
- wanton insolence, the basic problem being the pride which erects itself
against God and man alike. It refers
to treatment which is deliberately calculated publicly to insult and openly humiliate the
person who suffers from it. It describes the experience of insolence, shame,
insult or mistreatment. Hubris includes the idea of vile treatment which is
not just with words but can also be with violence and assault. Hubris
describes harm done to another by mistreatment or by insults meant to shame.
Aristotle wrote that
Hubris
means to hurt and to grieve people, in such a way that shame comes to the
man who is hurt and grieved, and that not that the person who inflicts the
hurt and injury may gain anything else in addition to what he already
possesses, but simply that he may find delight in his own cruelty and in the
suffering of the other person.
Barclay writes that...
Hubris was to the Greek the vice which supremely courted destruction
at the hand of the gods. It has two main lines of thought in it. (i) It
describes the spirit of the man who is so proud that he defies God. It is
the insolent pride that goes before a fall. It is the forgetting that man is
a creature. It is the spirit of the man who is so confident in his wealth,
his power and his strength that he thinks that he can live life alone. (ii)
It describes the man who is wantonly and sadistically cruel and insulting.
Aristotle describes it as the spirit which harms and grieves someone else,
not for the sake of revenge and not for any advantage that may be gained
from it, but simply for the sheer pleasure of hurting. There are people who
get pleasure from seeing someone wince at a cruel saying. There are people
who take a devilish delight in inflicting mental and physical pain on
others. That is hubris; it is the sadism which finds delight in hurting
others simply for the sake of hurting them... hubris, wanton insolence, is
the spirit which hurts someone in a cold, detached way, and then stands back
to see the other person wince. It is hurting for hurting's sake, and it
always involves deliberate humiliation of the person injured.
(Barclay,
W: Romans - The Daily Study Bible Series. The Westminster Press
or
Logos)
NIDNTT adds that...
hubris is a very ancient compound
(E. Schwyzer, Griechische Grammatik, I, 19532, 495), formed from y
(Cypriot, Rhodian equivalent of epi) and bri (cf. briaros,
weighty; britho, weigh, be heavy). Originally it meant excess weight, excess
power; sometimes more concretely, ill-treatment, abuse, insult; sometimes
more abstractly, arrogance, insolence, brutality. The word is frequently
used in the Odyssey, to denote Penelope’s suitors (e.g. 1, 227; 24, 352).
Hubris appears objectively as an infringement of the order of justice
established by Zeus, which enabled community-life in the Greek polis to be
maintained. It is the opposite of eunomia, good order, to the observance of
which the gods pay close attention (as early as Homer, Od. 17, 487) and of
noos theoudes, the attitude that fears the gods. Classical tragedy
contrasted hybris to sophrosyne, modesty, which respects the limits laid
down for men. Therefore hybris is not, strictly speaking, directed against
the gods (J. J. Fraenkel, Hybris, 1942, 73). What the malefactor harms is
good order. In the 5th century B.C. hybris became the classical expression
of “numinous fear, i.e., of the Greek sense of sin from the religious
standpoint” (G. Bertram, TDNT VIII 297; cf. Soph., Trach. 280; OT. 873). But
in Euripides human norms replace those set by fate (Heraclidae 388; Or.
708).
There are only 3 NT uses of hubris...
Acts 27:10 and said to them, "Men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly
be attended with damage and great loss, not only of the cargo and the
ship, but also of our lives."
Acts 27:21 And when they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood
up in their midst and said, "Men, you ought to have followed my advice and
not to have set sail from Crete, and incurred this damage and loss.
2
Corinthians 12:10 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.
There are 45 uses of hubris in the
Septuagint (LXX)
- Lev 26:19; Esther 4:17; Job 15:26;
22:12; 35:12; 37:4; Pr 1:22; 8:13; 11:2; 13:10; 14:3, 10; 16:18; 19:10, 18;
21:4; 29:23; Isa 9:9; 10:33; 13:11; 16:6; 23:7, 9; 25:11; 28:1, 3; Jer
13:9f, 17; 48:29; 50:32; Ezek 7:5; 30:6, 18; 32:12; 33:28; Hos 5:5; 7:10;
Amos 6:8; Mic 6:10; Nah 2:2; Zeph 2:10; 3:11; Zech 9:6; 10:11
John Piper defines insults
this way...
when people think of clever ways of making your faith or your lifestyle or
your words look stupid or weird or inconsistent. When we were giving out
“Finding Your Field of Dreams” at the dome, I heard one man say mockingly,
“And the Lord said, Play ball.” And all his friends laughed.
Hardships—circumstances forced upon you, reversals of fortune against your
will. This could refer to any situation where you feel trapped. You didn’t
plan it or think it would be this way. But there you are, and it’s hard. (Ibid)
Distresses
(318)
(anagke
[word study]
{also transliterated as ananke}
from ana = up, again, back, renewal, repetition, intensity, reversal
+ agkale = arm when bent) refers to any necessity or compulsion,
outer or inner, brought on by a variety of circumstances. It can mean
necessity imposed either by external conditions or by the law of duty.
The other meaning is the idea of trouble, distress or hardship and this is
the predominant sense in Luke 21:23; 1Co 7:26; 2Co 6:4; 2Co 12:10. In 1Th
3:7 Paul uses anagke to describe difficult circumstances that come on
one with compelling force. Anagke usually refers to outward calamities or
distresses.
Anagke - 17x in 17 verses - Matt 18:7;
Luke 14:18; 21:23; Rom 13:5; 1 Cor 7:26, 37; 9:16; 2 Cor 6:4; 9:7; 12:10;
1Th 3:7; Philemon 1:14; Heb 7:12, 27; 9:16, 23; Jude 1:3. The NAS
renders anagke as by compulsion(1), compulsion(2), constraint(1),
distress(3), distresses(1), hardships(1),inevitable(1), it is necessary(1),
it was necessary(1), necessity(1), need(2), obliged*(1), of necessity(2).
Piper defines distresses
(hardships) as...
circumstances forced upon you, reversals of fortune against your will. This
could refer to any situation where you feel trapped. You didn’t plan it or
think it would be this way. But there you are, and it’s hard. (Ibid)
Let me but hear my Savior say,
“Strength shall be equal to thy day,”
Then I rejoice in deep distress,
Leaning on all-sufficient grace.
I glory in infirmity,
That Christ’s own power may rest on me:
When I am weak, then am I strong,
Grace is my shield, and Christ my song.
I can do all things, or can bear
All suff’rings, if my Lord be there;
Sweet pleasures mingle with the pains,
While his left hand my head sustains.
But if the Lord be once withdrawn,
And we attempt the work alone,
When new temptations spring and rise,
We find how great our weakness is.
So Samson, when his hair was lost,
Met the Philistines to his cost;
Shook his vain limbs with sad surprise,
Made feeble fight, and lost his eyes.
--Isaac Watts
Persecutions
(1375)
(diogmos from dioko = to follow, persecute, pursue,
put to flight) literally
describes pursuit, a chase or a putting to flight and thus conveys ideas
such as harassment, oppression, persecution. It can be
a program or process designed to harass and oppress someone. It can be a
program which is systematically organized to oppress and harass others.
Diogmos is often used of used of hunters tracking their prey! Some have
commented that Paul may have in mind the Judaizers who dog his trail.
There are 10 uses in 9 verse (in Lxx only
in Pr 11:19, Lam 3:19)...
Matthew 13:21 yet he has no firm
root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or
persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.
Mark 4:17 and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary;
then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word,
immediately they fall away.
Mark 10:30 but that he shall receive a hundred times as much now in the
present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and
farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.
Acts 8:1 And Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on
that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem;
and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria,
except the apostles.
Acts 13:50 But the Jews aroused the devout women of prominence and the
leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul
and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.
Romans 8:35-note Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
peril, or sword?
2 Corinthians 12:10 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.
2 Thessalonians 1:4 therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the
churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your
persecutions and afflictions which you endure.
2 Timothy 3:11-note persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me
at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured,
and out of them all the Lord delivered me!
Comment: Because of their refusal
to compromise their proclamation of the gospel, Paul often had been put to
flight as fugitive from the persecutions of both Jewish and Gentile
unbelievers.
Piper defines persecutions
as...
wounds or abuses or painful circumstances or acts of prejudice or
exploitation from people because of your Christian faith or your Christian
moral commitments. It’s when you are not treated fairly. You get a raw
deal. (Ibid)
An anonymous author wrote the following poem which describes the Master
Weaver's plan which includes weaknesses... insults ... distresses
... persecutions ... difficulties...all calculated to make us more like
His Son...
My life is but a weaving,
between my Lord and me;
I cannot choose the colours.
He worketh steadily.
Oft times He weaveth sorrow
and I in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper
and I the under side.
Not till the loom is silent
and the shuttles cease to fly,
Shall God unroll the canvas
and explain the reason why,
The dark threads are as needful
in the Weaver’s skillful hand,
As the threads of gold and silver,
in the pattern He has planned.
Difficulties
(4730)
(stenochoria
[word study]
from stenos = narrow + chora = place) is literally a
narrow place, a narrow, tight or confined space and then the painfulness of associated with
this condition. Anguish, torturing confinement, hemmed in with no way out.
In our modern language we would say Paul was often in a "tight spot".
Vincent comments that the “dominant idea is
constraint." Stenochoria pictures finding oneself in a "tight
corner", hemmed in with no way out, in a narrow strait without the
possibility of escape.
Stenochoria might be used of an army caught in a narrow, rocky defile
with space neither to maneuver nor to escape. It might be used of a ship
caught in a storm with no room either to ride it or to run before it. There
are moments when a man seems to be in a situation in which the walls of life
are closing round him -- that is the picture inherent in stenochoria. The
opposite state, of being in a large place, was metaphorically used to
describe a state of joy as in Ps 118:5 (Spurgeon's
note) where the psalmist
writes
From my distress I called upon the LORD.
The LORD answered me and set me in a large place.
Albert
Barnes writes that stenochoria
means literally narrowness of place, lack
of room, and then the anxiety and distress of mind which a man experiences
who is pressed on every side by afflictions, and trials, and want, or by
punishment, and who does not know where he may turn himself to find relief.
It is thus expressive of the punishment of the wicked. It means that they
shall be compressed with the manifestations of God’s displeasure, so as to
be in deep distress, and so as not to know where to find relief.
Stenochoria metaphorically refers to great anxiety and distress of mind,
such as arises when a man does not know where to turn himself or what to do
for relief. It conveys the idea of anguish (which Webster defines as extreme
pain; distress of mind and suggests torturing grief or dread ), dire
calamity, extreme affliction or distress. In three of the four NT uses (Ro
2:9; Ro 8:35; 2Co 6:4) stenochoria is found with
thlipsis. Whereas tribulation
(thlipsis) emphasizes troubles pressing upon us from without (e.g.,
persecution, etc). Stenochoria has in view the distress which arises
from within (usually caused by thlipsis), such as anguish or
discomfort. Trench concludes that stenochoria is the "stronger" of the two
words.
Besides
capital punishment, solitary confinement has long been considered the worst
form of punishment, being the absolute, lonely confinement of a prisoner who
is already strictly confined. Part of hell’s torment will be its absolute,
isolated, lonely, and eternal confinement, with no possible hope of release
or escape.
FOR CHRIST'S
SAKE
For Christ's sake - Not as easy to
interpret as one might surmise.
David Garland...
The phrase huper Christou
(“for the sake of Christ”) is interpreted by the NIV (RSV, REB) as connected
to the phrase, “I delight in.” Paul placed it at the end of the lists
of hardships, however; so it is better to connect it to the weaknesses,
insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ
(NRSV). This means that he is not pleased with them for Christ’s sake but
endures them for Christ’s sake. (Garland, D. E. 2 Corinthians. The New
American Commentary. Page 527. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers)
John Phillips...
I remember when, as a boy, I first
learned to swim. On the surface of it, it seemed impossible to believe that
water could actually hold a person up! All my previous experience had been
the opposite. When I fell into water I sank to the bottom. When, naturally
enough, I struggled in wild panic that only made matters worse. It proved
the obvious—water was too tenuous a substance to hold a person up. But when
I learned not to struggle, when I learned how to let go and float and then
to actually swim it became as natural as walking on dry land.John Phillips
Commentary Series, The - The John Phillips Commentary Series – Exploring 2
Corinthians: An Expository Commentary....The waves of adversity might come.
Paul did not struggle, he yielded. And, wonder of wonders, he was borne up!
No matter what came his way, he saw Christ in it. He accepted it for
Christ's sake. He did not fight it. He did not trust his strength, he
resorted to his weakness and found that, indeed, underneath were those
everlasting arms (Deut. 33:27). The Lord Jesus would never let him down. If
he struggled, he would sink. If he surrendered, he would swim. (John
Phillips Exploring 2 Corinthians: An Expository Commentary)
R Kent Hughes...
There is no value in the
endurance of hardships and indignities in themselves. There is no virtue in
suffering. Everything turns on the phrase “for the sake of Christ.”
Only a fanatic would find contentment in self-inflicted suffering and
miseries. But a Christian will find a
special contentment in sufferings endured “for the sake of Christ.”
(Ibid)
Phillip Hughes addresses the
significance of suffering for Christ's sake...
Not that in itself the
endurance of hardships and indignities is of value. As we have previously
indicated, the concept, so pernicious in the Church at a later date, of
courting martyrdom, of practicing asceticism, and even of embracing dirt,
disease, and destitution as means to the acquisition of favour before God,
is diametrically opposed to the Apostle's mind and to the whole tenor of the
gospel in the New Testament, for it is a concept governing a way of life for
one's own sake, with a view to making oneself righteous and acceptable
before God—a concept of works, not faith. The weaknesses and sufferings in
which Paul takes pleasure are, on the contrary, those endured for Christ's
sake by one who has already been fully and freely justified by the grace of
God. Christ Himself pronounced the blessedness of those who endure
reproaches, persecutions, and injustices for His sake (Mt. 5:11, 19:29,
etc.). To welcome sufferings for any other reason is to miss that
blessedness of which our Lord speaks. (Paul's Second Epistle to the
Corinthians)
William MacDonald...
Naturally speaking, it is quite
impossible for us to take pleasure in the type of experiences listed here.
But the key to the understanding of the verse is found in the expression,
for Christ’s sake. We should be willing to endure in His cause, and in
the furtherance of His gospel, things which we would not ordinarily endure
for ourselves or for the sake of some loved one. It is when we are
conscious of our own weakness and nothingness that we most depend on the
power of God. And it is when we are thus cast on Him in complete dependence
that His power is manifested to us, and we are truly strong. William
Wilberforce, who led the fight to abolish slavery in the British Empire, was
physically weak and frail, but he had deep faith in God. Boswell said of
him, “I saw what seemed to me a shrimp become a whale.” In this verse
Paul is obeying the word of the Lord in Matthew 5:11, 12. He is rejoicing
when men reviled and persecuted him.
Bruce Barton...
THE TAPESTRY OF LIFE - What God
allowed Paul to experience was for “Christ’s good” (12:10). This means that
the kingdom over which Christ rules was served by the circumstances the
apostle encountered. Even though daily hardships and failure are not easily
graphed on a chart of
personal achievement, they are by no means wasted. Consider the underside of
a handmade tapestry. The elaborate coordinated threads on the exterior side
of the fabric, woven with precision and creativity, produce a work of art
intended by the weaver. The side that will not be seen, however, is a
tangled mess of thread, yarn, and knots. How similar to life! Christ uses
what appears to be random circumstances with no meaning—simply knots and
tangles—and makes something beautiful out of them. We must not draw undue
attention to ourselves, even in our suffering. He can produce spiritual
renewal out of great difficulty and conflict. (2 Corinthians. Life
application Bible commentary. Page 455. Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House)
As Robertson rightly says...
The enemies of Paul will have a hard time now in making Paul unhappy by
persecutions even unto death (Php 1:20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26). He is not
courting martyrdom, but he does not fear it or anything that is “for
Christ’s sake”
Matthew Henry...
Here is the use which the
apostle makes of this dispensation: He gloried in his infirmities (v. 9),
and took pleasure in them, v. 10. He does not mean his sinful infirmities
643(those we have reason to be ashamed of and grieved at), but he means his
afflictions, his reproaches, necessities, persecutions, and distresses for
Christ's sake, v. 10. And the reason of his glory and joy on account of
these things was this-they were fair opportunities for Christ to manifest
the power and sufficiency of his grace resting upon him, by which he had so
much experience of the strength of divine grace that he could say, When I am
weak, then am I strong. This is a Christian paradox: when we are weak in
ourselves, then we are strong in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; when we
see ourselves weak in ourselves, then we go out of ourselves to Christ, and
are qualified to receive strength from him, and experience most of the
supplies of divine strength and grace.
Marvin Vincent (he Covenant of Peace, p. 96)...
Strength in Weakness - God's
answer to Paul's prayer lays down a general law. God does not merely promise
to perfect Paul's strength in that particular weakness: He states the
general truth, a truth not peculiar to the spiritual life, though appearing
there in its noblest aspect, that strength is perfected
in weakness.
I. Strength perfected in weakness. We know that the converse is true: that
weakness is perfected in strength; for both our reading and our experience
show us that the greatest manifestations of weakness are constantly seen in
those whom the world deems the strongest. On the other hand, illustrations
are equally abundant of strength perfected in weakness. They are all about
us in our ordinary life. The consciousness of infirmity often makes its
subject so cautious, and puts him under such careful discipline, that he
accomplishes more than another who is free from infirmity.
II. Look at the truth on its religious side. Then it comes into even
stronger relief, because in the Christian economy weakness is assumed to be
an universal condition, and dependence98 is therefore the universal law of
the Christian life. There it is invariably true that real strength comes
only out of that weakness which, distrustful of itself, gives itself up to
God. There it is invariably true that God's strength shines through human
infirmity, and often selects for its best and richest expressions the
poorest, weakest, most burdened, of mankind.
III. In the text there is no encouragement to cherish weakness. Weakness is
not commended as a good thing in itself. The object of Christian training is
to make men strong; and the Psalmist tells us that God's children go from
strength to strength. But weakness is a universal fact in human
nature. Our Lord covers all humanity with the statement that the flesh is
weak, and the text does tell us to recognise the fact and to provide against
it by taking Another's strength. The thing which it does commend is the
permission of conscious weakness to have Another's strength push up through
itself and pervade and transform it, a
Holy strength whose ground
Is in the heavenly land.
John MacArthur...
Paul's weakness was not
self-induced or artificial; it was not a superficial psychological
self-esteem game he played with himself. It was real and God-given. He did
not love the pain caused by the false apostles, knowing it was satanic in
origin. Yet he embraced it as the means by which God released His power
through him....
Having a
proper perspective on trouble, trials, and suffering
is the cornerstone of Christian living.
Focusing all one's efforts on
removing difficulties is not the answer. Believers need to embrace the
trials God allows them to undergo, knowing that those trials reveal their
character, humble them, draw them closer to God, and allow Him to display
His grace and power in their lives (cp Jas 1:2-note,
Jas 1:3, 4-
note).
(2 Corinthians Commentary)
F. W. Robertson...
The sanctifying power of sorrow: -- "For Christ's sake," that is the
main point: the apostle took pleasure in pain, not as pain, but for Christ's
sake. In itself sorrow is not sanctifying. It is like fire, whose effect
depends upon the substance with which it comes in contact. Fire melts wax,
inflames straw, and hardens clay. So it is only in afflictions borne for
Christ's sake, that is, in Christ's name, and with Christ's spirit, that we
can rejoice. Forasmuch as Christ hath suffered in the flesh, arm yourself
likewise with the same mind. The Cross alone extracts life out of pain;
without this it is death-giving.
Just what I need He gives,
Close to my side He lives;
Honor and glory be to His name,
Just what I need He gives.
FOR WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN I AM STRONG: hotan gar astheno (1SPAS) tote
dunatos eimi. (1SPAI)
:
In the "hall of faith" chapter, Hebrews
11, we see that the principle of divine strength (power) in human weakness
which Paul expresses here in the NT has always been God's
way of dealing with men who "from weakness were made strong" (Hebrews
11:34-note)
ONGOING WEAKNESS
AND
ONGOING POWER
Hughes adds that...
the persistent motif of authentic ministry is power in weakness...But
what we most need to see is that power in weakness is shorthand for
the cross of Christ (cp Mk 8:34). In God’s plan of redemption, there had to
be weakness (crucifixion) before there was power (resurrection). And this
power-in-weakness connection is what Paul reflected on when he
contemplated Christ’s praying three times amidst His weakness and
powerlessness in Gethsemane before His death on the cross (Mt 26:39, 40, 41,
42, 43, 44, Mk 14:35, 36, 39, 41, Lk 22:41, 42, 43, 44), which was followed
by the power of the resurrection! Paul came to understand and embrace the
fact that his thorn in the flesh was essential to his ongoing weakness
and the experience of Christ’s ongoing power. (Hughes, R. K.
2Corinthians: Power in Weakness. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books)
Barnett notes that
Power in weakness,’
therefore, runs as a thread throughout the letter (read 2Co 1:8, 9, 2:14,
4:7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 6:4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10), reaching its most powerful expression here".
For when - "For whenever" speaks
of an indefinite time. At whatever time. The idea is at any or every time
that he is weak. This is the mindset of a man who has learned the secret of
the school of suffering and thus who is ever ready to surrender his will to
the will of his Lord and Master. This powerful paradox teaches that Paul has
real, spiritual strength just when he acknowledges his weakness and
dependence on Christ.
The great hindrance for effective
ministry is that too many of us perceive ourselves as strong in our own
abilities or resources, and thus are tempted to try to accomplish God's
supernatural work in our own natural strength, which tends to bolster our
ego and inflate our pride. It is only as we are willing to acknowledge our
weaknesses (and that may include a propensity to self-exaltation or pride)
that the Spirit can fill us with his power for effective God glorifying
ministry.
Weak
(770)
(astheneo
[word study]
from
asthenes [word study]
= without
strength, powerless from a = without + sthenos = strength,
bodily vigor) means to be feeble (in any sense), to be diseased, impotent,
sick, to lack strength, to be infirm, to be weak.
I am
(1510)
(eimi) is in the
present tense
which emphasizes that Paul is and remains strong in the Lord. What a
contrast Paul is to Samson in the Old Testament. The Spirit of God came upon
Samson and he became strong. People marveled at his physical strength, but
there came a day when he was very weak. The strong are made weak, and the
weak are made strong. God can use the weak man.
As Wiersbe writes...
God has to balance privileges with responsibilities, blessings with burdens,
or else you and I will become spoiled, pampered
children.
(Wiersbe,
W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor
or
Logos)
Strong
(1415)
(dunatos
[word study]
from
dunamai [word study]
= referring to
power one has by virtue of inherent ability and resources; see also word study of
dunamis) means powerful, able, strong.
TDNT notes that all words deriving
from the stem duna- have the basic meaning of “being able,” of
“capacity” in virtue of an ability) pertains to being capable,
able (having the ability to perform some function; having sufficient
power, skill, or resources to accomplish an objective), adept (highly
skilled or well-trained implying aptitude as well as proficiency) or
competent (being what is necessary; having requisite or adequate ability
or qualities).
Our weakness as believers is like a live drama on stage before a
watching world (an example to both believers and unbelievers alike), where
our weakness becomes the occasion for the manifestation of Christ's power,
our inadequacy for His adequacy, our poverty for His riches, our
inarticulation for His articulation, our tentativeness for His confidence.
Indeed, when we are weak (as in Ro 8:36-
note),
we prove ourselves in all these things to be more than conquerors through
Christ Who loved us (Ro 8:37NIV-note)
and Christ our Lord receives the glory (Ro 11:36-note,
Ps 115:1-note)
Charles Hodge writes that...
When we are really weak in
ourselves and are conscious of that weakness, we are in the state suited to
the manifestation of God’s power. When we are emptied of ourselves, we are
filled with God.
Those who think they can change their own hearts, atone for
their own sins, subdue the power of evil in their own souls or in the souls
of others, who feel able to sustain themselves under affliction, God leaves
to their own resources. But when they feel and acknowledge their weakness,
He imparts divine strength to them.
Gingrich comments that...
If Christ is glorified in our
afflictions, we ought not only to be resigned to them but also to rejoice
because of them and to thank God for them. (Gingrich, R. E.. The Book of 2
Corinthians. Memphis, TN.: Riverside Printing)
Matthew Poole writes that...
A child of God seldom walks so
much in the view of God as his God, and in the view of his own sincerity, as
when, as to his outward condition and
circumstances in the world,
he walks in the dark and sees no light.
Albert Barnes...
When I feel weak; when I am
subjected to trial, and nature faints and fails, then strength is imparted
to me, and I am enabled to bear all. The more I am borne down with trials,
the more do I feel my need of Divine assistance, and the more do I feel the
efficacy of Divine grace. Such was the promise in Dt 33:25KJV, "As thy days,
so shall thy strength be." So in Hebrews 11:34-
note,
"Who out of weakness were made strong."
What Christian has not experienced
this, and been able to say that when he felt himself weak, and felt like
sinking under the accumulation of many trials, he has found his strength
according to his day, and felt an arm of power supporting him?
It is then that the Redeemer manifests Himself in a peculiar manner; and
then that the excellency of the religion of Christ is truly seen, and its
(His) power appreciated and felt.
J Vernon McGee...
What a contrast this man is to
Samson in the Old Testament. The Spirit of God came upon Samson and he
became strong. People marveled at his physical strength, but there came a
day when he was very weak. The strong are made weak, and the weak are made
strong. God can use the weak man. (2Corinthians
12:10-12 Mp3)
Hughes explains that we are well content and...
We exult in suffering because
it is the path to spiritual maturity and glory. The great saints of God all
agree. Ask Abraham and he will direct your attention to the sacrifice on
Mount Moriah. Ask Jacob and he will point you to his stone pillow. Ask
Joseph and he will tell you about the dungeon. Ask Moses and he will remind
you of his trials with Pharaoh. David will tell you his songs came in the
night. Peter will speak of his denial, John of Patmos, and Jesus of the
cross. Blessings are poured out in bitter cups.
(Hughes,
R. K. Romans: Righteousness from heaven. Preaching the Word. Crossway Books
or
Logos)
We need to embrace this
paradox, for the men and women God has used have always lived with the
reality that they are clay (cp 2Co 4:7NIV). When they saw Jesus Christ, they
became unconscious of all they used to call their wisdom and strength (cp Jn
3:30). Rather than focusing on their weaknesses, they made it their business
to rely on Him (cp Php 4:11, 12-
note,
Php 4:13-note).
From this flowed the surpassing greatness of His power (cp Ep 1:19-note).
(Luke: Preaching the Word) (Scripture annotations added)
Arnot gives these illustrations
from nature...
Some living creatures maintain their hold by foot or body on flat surfaces
by a method that seems like magic, and with a tenacity that amazes the
observer. A fly marching at ease with feet uppermost on a plastered ceiling,
and a mollusk sticking to the smooth water-worn surface of a basaltic
rock, while the long swell of the Atlantic at every pulse sends a huge white
billow roaring and hissing and cracking and crunching over it, are objects
of wonder to the onlooker. That apparently supernatural solidity is the most
natural thing in the world. It is emptiness that imparts so much strength to
these feeble creatures. A vacuum, on the one side within a web-foot, and on
the other within the shell, is the secret of their power. By dint of that
emptiness in itself the creature quietly and easily clings to the wall or
the rock, so making all the strength of the wall or rock its own. By its
emptiness it is held fast; the moment it becomes full it drops off. Ah! it
is the self-emptiness of a humble, trustful soul that makes the Redeemer's
strength his own, and so keeps him safe in an evil world.
THE "FOOLISHNESS OF GOD"...
(1Co 1:25)
THE SPIRITUAL PARADOX
OF STRENGTH OUT OF WEAKNESS
A
paradox is defined as a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory
statement that is actually true. In the Bible spiritual paradoxes
abound and confound the secular unsaved mind...in fact the wise of this
world consider believers are considered to be fools for Christ's sake. The
wise of this world scoff and laugh at God's answers to questions like...
Do you want to be strong?
You must boast about your weaknesses!
"Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the
power of Christ may dwell in me...for when I am weak, then I am strong. (2Co
12:9, 10)
Do you want to be rich?
You must become poor in spirit.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Mt
5:3-note)
Do you want to be first?
You must be willing to be last.
And sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, "If anyone wants to
be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all." (Mk 9:35,
cp Mt 19:30, 20:8, 16, Mk 10:31, Lk 13:30)
Do you want to be exalted?
You must be willing to be brought low!
Humble
(aorist
imperative)
yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you
at the proper time (1Pe 5:6-note).
(cp Jas 4:6- note,
Jas 4:10- note)
(cp Mt. 23:12)
Do you want to rule?
You must be willing to serve.
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give
His life a ransom for many.
(Mk 10:45, cp Mk 9:35)
Do you want to life?
You must die.
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but
Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by
faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.
(Gal 2:20; cp 2Co 4: 10, 11)
Do you want to be fruitful?
You must die.
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and
dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (Jn
12:24).
Some other spiritual paradoxes:
We see unseen things (2Co 4:18)
We conquer by yielding (Ro 6:16, 17, 18)
We find rest under a yoke (Mt. 11:28, 29, 30)
We reign by serving (Mk 10:42, 43, 44)
We are made great by becoming little (Lk 9:48)
We become wise by being fools for Christ's sake (1Co 1:20, 21)
We find victory by glorying in our infirmities (2Co 12:5)
As Hughes says
Unless there is death, the vast possibilities inside us will not be
released. We will shrivel and remain alone. We must die. (Ed:
compare the similar spiritual principle in Mk 8:34, 35, 36, 37, Mt 10:38,
39, Lk 9:23, 24, 25) Those who are
beginning the Christian life or are awakening to their spiritual potential
must learn that we live by dying. This has been true in my own life. (Hughes, R. K. 1999. John : That
You May Believe. Preaching the Word. Page 301. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway
Books)
|
JUXTAPOSITION OF
WEAKNESS <> POWER
IN CORINTHIANS |
|
PASSAGE |
WEAKNESS |
POWER |
|
1Cor 1:25 |
Weakness of God |
Stronger than men |
|
1Cor 1:27 |
God chose weak things |
To shame the strong things |
|
1Cor 2:3, 5 |
Was with you in weakness |
Faith rests on power of God |
|
1Cor 15:43 |
Body sown in weakness |
Body raised in power |
|
2Co 12:9 |
My weaknesses |
Power of Christ |
|
2Co 13:3 |
Christ not weak toward you |
Mighty in you |
|
2Co 13:4 |
Christ crucified because of weakness |
He lives because of the power of God |
|
2Co 13:4 |
We are weak in Christ |
We live with Him because of the power of God |
|
2Co 13:9 |
Rejoice when we are weak |
Rejoice when you are strong |
Calvin comments that
The more deficiency there is in me, so much the more liberally does the
Lord, from his strength, supply me with whatever he sees to be needful for
me.” For the fortitude of philosophers is nothing else than contumacy, or
rather a mad enthusiasm, such as fanatics are accustomed to have. “If a man
is desirous to be truly strong, let him not refuse to be at the same time
weak Let him,” I say, “be weak in himself that he may be strong in the
Lord.” (Ep 6:10.)... All these things are exercises for discovering to us
our own weakness; for if God had not exercised Paul with such trials, he
would never have perceived so clearly his weakness. Hence, he has in view
not merely poverty, and hardships of every kind, but also those effects that
arise from them, as, for example, a feeling of our own weakness,
self-distrust, and humility. (Commentary
on Corinthians)
Spurgeon gives an
illustration of the power of "infirmities"
Some of the arable land along the
shore on the south-east coast of Sutherland is almost covered with shore
stones, from the size of a turkey's egg
to eight pounds weight. Several experiments have been made to collect these
off the land, expecting a better crop; but in every case the land proved
less productive by removing them; and on some small spots of land it was
found so evident, that they were spread on the land again, to ensure their
usual crop of oats or peas. We would fain (glad) be rid of all our
infirmities which, to our superficial conceptions, appear to be great
hindrances to our usefulness, and yet it is most questionable if we should
bring forth any fruit unto God without them. Much rather, therefore,
will I glory in infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
When You Think You've Failed -
Charles Haddon
Spurgeon “the prince of preachers,” felt he delivered his sermon so
poorly one Sunday that he was ashamed of himself. As he walked away from his
church, the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, he wondered how any good
could come from that message. When he arrived home, he
dropped to his knees
and prayed, “Lord God, You can do something with nothing. Bless that poor
sermon.” In the months that followed, 41 people said that they had decided
to trust Christ as Saviour because of that “weak” message. The following
Sunday, to make up for his previous “failure,” Spurgeon had prepared a
“great” sermon—but no one responded. Spurgeon’s experience underscores two
important lessons for all who serve the Lord. First, we need the blessing of
God on our efforts. Solomon said in Ps 127:1-note, “Unless the Lord builds the
house, they labor in vain who build it.” And second, our weakness is an
occasion for the working of God’s power. The apostle Paul said, “I take
pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in
distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2Co
12:10).
Charles Simeon (
Brief
Bio from John Piper = Brothers, We Must Not Mind a Little Suffering)
has the following thoughts on 2Cor 12:10...
When the champion of the
Philistines defied, and terrified, the whole army of Israel, David, “a
stripling,” without armor, defensive or offensive (except a sling and a
stone), went forth against him; and, though unused to war himself, entered
into combat with that experienced and mighty warrior. But the weaker he was
in himself, the more confident was he in his God; and instead of being
intimidated by the threatening aspect and boasting menaces of his adversary,
he was as assured of victory, as if he had seen his enemy already under his
feet (1Sa 17:45, 46, 47)
Editorial Comment:
Read the full story for context of God's sufficient grace made strong in
David's weakness [1Sa 17:31-44] including Saul's ["man's way"] vain attempt
to "strengthen" David [1Sa 17:38, 39]! David "understood" the principle
which is paradoxical to the natural man [1Co 2:14] that only in his natural
weakness could David say with utmost confidence "This day the LORD will
deliver you up into my hands" [1Sa 17:46], understanding that only in this
way would "all the earth...know that there is a God in Israel and that all
this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear;
for the battle is the LORD'S and He will give you into our hands." [1Sa
17:47] - in other words in David's weakness Jehovah would be His strength
and He alone would get the glory, which emphasizes one of the primary
reasons this paradoxical principle is so vitally important to put into
practice in our own daily "battles" with the giants!)
Paul labored under a heavy
trial, which he calls a thorn in his flesh. Apprehensive that this would
counteract his usefulness in the world, he cried most earnestly to the Lord
Jesus Christ to remove it from him. But the Lord, not judging it expedient
to grant him his request, promised him (what was incomparably better) more
abundant communications of grace, whereby he should obtain in a more
advantageous manner the desires of his soul. Observe the effect—Paul
remained as weak as ever; but, being persuaded that Christ’s power should be
the more magnified through his weakness, he was satisfied; yea, rather, he
made that a matter of joy and triumph, which had just before been a source
of the greatest trouble. He was well assured that, however unable he was in
himself either to bear his trials, or to fulfil his duties, he could not but
succeed, when his Almighty Friend was pledged to succour and support him.
The Apostle’s assertion being
equally applicable to all believers, we shall, confirm it—A sense of
weakness necessarily tends to make us strong, inasmuch as it makes us,
1. Watchful against
temptations—If we conceive ourselves to be strong, we shall be fearless
of temptation; and by exposing ourselves to it, shall be in greater danger
of falling (cp 1Co 10:12): whereas, if we feel our utter weakness, we shall
not only pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” (Mt 6:13-
note)
but shall carefully shun the places, the books, the company, that may
ensnare us (cp 1Pe 2:11-note).
Like Joseph, we shall not parley with the tempter, but flee in haste (Ge
39:9, 12, Pr 6:5, 1Co 6:18, 10:14, 1Ti 6:10,11, 2Ti 2:22-note):
or, if we cannot flee, we shall oppose our enemy at first (Jas 4:7, 8, 9,
10); and thus vanquish that, which, if it had time to gather strength, would
soon vanquish us.
2. Importunate in prayer—It
is the sick alone who calls for a physician; they who are strong in their
own conceit, will never pray in earnest; but he who feels his need of divine
assistance will seek it at a throne of grace (He 4:16-
note).
Now if we do not pray for God’s aid, we cannot receive it; and therefore in
the hour of trial shall surely fail (Mt 26:41). But, if we pray with
importunity and faith, we shall obtain the things we ask for (1Jn 5:14, 15);
and consequently shall be upheld, while others fall. It was by this means
that Paul obtained strength; “he prayed to the Lord thrice:” the answer
vouchsafed to his petition dissipated all his fears, and strengthened him
with might in his inner man (cp Ep 3:16-note):
and similar means will always be attended with similar success.
3. Dependent on the Lord
Jesus Christ—In proportion as we fancy ourselves strong, we must of
necessity confide in our own strength; the consequence of which may be
sufficiently seen in the repeated falls of Peter (Mt 26:33,34, 35, 74, 75) .
Being strong in his own apprehension, he proved himself lamentably weak.
But, if we are conscious that we are wholly without strength, and can do
nothing of ourselves, we shall be more simple and uniform in our dependence
on Christ (cp Acts 2:14, 4:8ff). Now Christ will never suffer those who
trust in him to be confounded (cp Ro 10:11-
note).
He would consider it as an impeachment of His own veracity, if He did not
give them “grace sufficient for them.” Consequently we never are so truly
strong, as when we are deeply convinced of our own utter impotence.
This truth enters deeply into
the experience of all the Lord’s people. we shall therefore endeavour to
improve it—Among the various lessons which it teaches us, let us especially
learn two:
1. Not to be too much
elated on account of any manifestations of the Divine favor—Paul was
caught up into the third heavens; but soon afterwards we behold him crying,
with much anguish of mind, under a severe affliction. Thus it may soon be
with us. Indeed the seasons most distinguished by God’s favor to us, are
often most distinguished also by Satan’s malice. It was immediately after
they had received peculiar tokens of God’s love, that he assaulted Paul,
and Peter, and Christ himself. Let us then, when most highly favored,
“rejoice with trembling,” and not while harnessed, boast as if we had put
off our armor.
2. Not to be too much
dejected on account of our manifold infirmities—Jacob was lamed by God
himself, that he might know he had not prevailed by his own strength (Ge
32:32). And Paul had a thorn in the flesh given him, “lest he should be
exalted above measure.” Now our infirmities are very painful: but they are
necessary, in order to keep alive in our minds a remembrance of our own
weakness and vileness: and, if we do but carry them to God in fervent
prayer, he will glorify himself by means of them, and “perfect his strength
in our weakness.” “Let the weak then say, I am strong;” let them “be
strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might;” and, doubtless, they
shall receive that effectual succour which believers, in all ages, have
experienced, and shall invariably find their “strength according to their
day” of trial. (Simeon, C. 1832-63. Horae Homileticae Vol. 16: 1 and 2
Corinthians. London)
Alan Carr applies these Scriptures...
Are
you being buffeted right now? Are the harsh blows of life landing on you,
leaving you bleeding, bruised and battered before the Lord? Are you being
pierced by the cruel, sharp thorns of physical, emotional or spiritual
affliction? If you are, then just let me remind you that God’s promises are
still true! His mercies are new every day, La 3:21, 22! Do you need to come
before Him today to get grace for your race? Do you need help for your
valley? Do you need to find that prize in your pain? If you do, I want you
to come before the Lord right now. I want you to stop asking Him “Why?”. I
want you to get before Him and ask Him to show you what He is doing in your
life. I want you to ask Him for grace to praise Him “in” your buffetings. I
want you to bow before the Lord and thank Him for your thorn. You say, “I
can’t do that!”, then you need to come and ask Him to help you reach that
place. Listen, none of us have arrived! This is hard for me too, but part of
healing our hurts is coming to the place where we yield to God and to what
He is doing in our lives. This altar is open; bring your thorn to Him right
now! (
Blessing
Out of Buffeting)
BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE - Paul Van Gorder asks do you thank God for the thorns?...
We don’t often thank God for our
trials, heartaches, and difficulties (1Th 5:18, Jas 1:2, 3). Although we are willing to praise Him
for His goodness, we sometimes fail to realize that even adverse
circumstances are blessings in disguise.
Scottish preacher George Matheson had that problem. He realized that he was
not as ready to praise God when things went wrong as he was when they went
right. However, after he began to lose his eyesight, he changed his
thinking. He struggled for
some months with this weary burden until he reached the point where he could
pray,
“My God, I have never
thanked You for my thorn. I have thanked You a thousand times for my roses,
but not once for my thorn. I have been looking forward to a world where I
shall get compensated for my cross, but I have never thought of my cross as
itself a present glory. Teach me the value of my thorn.”
When we count our blessings, we should include the weaknesses, the
hardships, the burdens, and the trials we face. If we do, we might find that
God has used our difficulties more than the “good” things to help us grow
spiritually. Why is that? Because it is in those difficult places that we
discover the sufficiency of His grace. In our trials, we turn to God. As we
depend on Him, we find that His strength is made perfect in our weakness
(2Cor 12:9). Take a moment and think about the way God has led you. When you
praise God for your blessings, do you remember to thank Him for the
thorns?
(Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
><>><>><>
A MODERN ILLUSTRATION OF WEAKNESS
MADE STRONG - Henrietta
Mears, who was used so mightily to strengthen the evangelical church through
her discipleship and writing, suffered from her childhood and through the
rest of her life with extreme myopia and general eye weakness and
irritation. She, like Paul, cried out for relief,
but to no avail. In her maturity Miss Mears often remarked,
"I believe my greatest spiritual
asset throughout my entire life has been my failing sight, for it has kept
me absolutely dependent upon God."
Henrietta Mears went forward for
Christ, still plagued by her increasing disability, to set the standard for
Sunday schools in America. She founded Gospel Light and wrote the
million-plus best-seller book, What the Bible Is All About. In her weakness,
she became strong. The grace of God enables you too, to be strong when you
are weak and to enjoy God's blessings when you are buffeted. (Treasures from
2 Corinthians, Volume 2)
R Kent Hughes adds that
"Henrietta Mears went on, still plagued by her increasing disability, to set
the standard for Sunday schools in America. She founded Gospel Light and
wrote the million-plus best-seller What the Bible Is All About. She was
influential in shaping the ministries of Billy Graham in his beginning
stages, 216Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, and Richard
Halverson, Chaplain of the United States Senate, to name only a few!"
(Hughes, R. K. 2 Corinthians : Power in Weakness. Preaching the Word. Page
215. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books)
><>><>><>
THE STRONG WEAK PEOPLE: If
there is anything that we love to hate more than the arrogance of others, it
would have to be an awareness of our own weakness. We detest it so much that
we invent ways to cover our personal inadequacy.
Even the apostle Paul needed to be reminded of his own frailty. He was
jabbed time and again by a "thorn in the flesh" (2Co 12:7). He didn't name
this thorn, but J. Oswald Sanders reminds us that whatever it was,
"it hurt, humiliated, and restricted Paul." Three times he begged the Lord
to take it away, but his request was not granted. Instead, he used his thorn
to tap into God's all-sufficient grace. The Lord promised, "My grace is
sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness" (2Co 12:9).
Courageously, Paul began to "own" his weakness and put the Lord's grace to
the test, a pathway that Sanders calls "a gradual educative process" in the
apostle's life. Sanders notes that eventually Paul no longer regarded his
thorn as a "limiting handicap" but as a "heavenly advantage." And his
advantage was this: When he was weak in himself, he was strong in the
Lord.
As we accept our weaknesses, in Christ we can be strong weak people. --
Joanie E. Yoder
(Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
May the Word of God dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph
Only through His power.
-- Wilkinson
To know God's strength, we must know our weakness.
><>><>><>
THE ADVANTAGE OF WEAKNESS: It
is always a joy to talk with my old college friend Tom and get caught up on
what the Lord has been teaching us since we last met.
One time Tom began with a sheepish grin, "You know, I can't believe how many
years it's taken me to learn my latest lesson--and I'm a Bible teacher!" He
went on to list some of the trials and testings he and his family had been
facing and how unworthy he felt teaching an adult Sunday school class. "Week
after week I felt I was a total failure," he confided, "and kept wondering
if this might be my last Sunday before announcing my resignation."
Then one Sunday Tom noticed a young woman who stayed behind to speak to him.
She was a friend of his family, so she knew what they had been going
through. "Tom," she said, "I hope you won't take this the wrong way, but
you're a much better teacher when you're going through tough times!"
Another sheepish grin crept across Tom's face as he told me, "Only then did
I feel I grasped the Lord's response to Paul's thorn in the flesh: 'My grace
is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.'"
Weakness helps us to relate to others and lets God's power work in our
lives. That may be our greatest asset. --J E Yoder
(Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
Inadequate but mighty--
How strange, yet wholly true;
Weak ones endued with power
The Lord's great work shall do. --HGB
We may face situations beyond our reserves,
but never beyond God's resources
><>><>><>
WEAKNESSES AND STRENGTHS:
"Out of weakness (they) were made strong." -- Hebrews 11:34
I'm always amused when I watch the loons lift into flight off Piatt Lake in
Michigan's upper peninsula. They half-run, half-flap across the water for
hundreds of feet before getting enough speed to lift into the air. I
wondered why until I learned that unlike most birds, loons have solid bones.
Their added weight makes it difficult for them to get airborne.
I also learned that loons are clumsy on land because their legs are set
farther back on their bodies than other birds. Walking is so difficult that
many loons simply scoot across land to their nesting places. But these
disadvantages -- heavy bones, legs set far back -- are also tremendous
advantages. Because of their weight and leg placement, loons can dive
deeper, farther, and faster. This is essential for catching fish and
escaping predators.
What we see as disadvantages in our lives can be turned into advantages, and
apparent weaknesses can
be transformed into strengths. That was true of the apostle Paul, whose
"thorn in the flesh" became an opportunity for God's strength to be seen in
his weakness (2Co 12:7, 8, 9).
Is a weakness holding you down? Is it shyness or a physical limitation? Ask
God to turn it into a strength for His glory.-- David C. Egner
(Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
Inadequate but mighty --
How strange, yet wholly true!
Weak persons filled with power
The father's work shall do.
- Henry G. Bosch
Our limited potential accents God's limitless power.
><>><>><>
From an unknown source - Why?
Why me? Why my family? What is the meaning of this suffering?
These are familiar questions which
are asked by Christians and non-Christians alike. No one is immune to
suffering and adversity. “Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly
upward” (Job 5:7KJV). There are the pressures of want, need, sorrow,
persecution, unpopularity, and loneliness. Some suffer for what they have
done; others suffer because of what people do to them. Many suffer because
they are victims of circumstances which they cannot control.
Pain is distressing. There can be
nights of agony when God seems so unfair and it seems that there is no
possible help or answer. Temporary relief may seem adequate, but the real
solution to suffering is not to isolate it in an attempt to do away with it,
nor even to grit our teeth and endure it. The solution, rather, is to
condition our attitudes so that we learn to triumph in and through
suffering. When the Apostle Paul sought relief from his “thorn in the
flesh,” God did not take it away, but reassured him with: “My grace is
sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness”
(2Co12:9KJV). In another encouragement to the Corinthians, he wrote, “And
God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all
sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work” (2Cor 9:8KJV).
Except for physical pain, handling
suffering seems to be a question of attitude: “What am I going to do in the
face of suffering in order to learn from it and use it for my advantage as
far as God’s eternal purposes are concerned?”
Billy Graham comments: “Nowhere
does the Bible teach that Christians are exempt from the tribulations and
natural disasters that come upon the world. Scripture does teach that the
Christian can face tribulation, crisis, calamity, and personal suffering
with a supernatural power that is not available to the person outside of
Christ.”
Some of the most pathetic people in
the world are those who, in the midst of adversity, indulge themselves by
wallowing in self-pity and bitterness, all the while taking a sort of
delight in blaming God for their problems. Job’s attitude is an
inspiration: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15).
The sufferer will be blessed if, in the midst of great agony and despair, he
can look into the face of his Heavenly Father and, because of His eternal
love and presence, be grateful. Our response to suffering should lead us to
look beyond it in the attempt to see God’s higher purposes and what He
wants to teach us.
><>><>><>
C H Spurgeon - Periods of
weakness will occur. A great strain may be placed on us. We become exhausted
or severely depressed, and we may imagine that we are ready to die. At times
like this, God will supply strength. Our extreme distress will be His
opportunity; our famine, His hour of plenty. “His strength is made perfect
in weakness” (2Co 12:9- note).
“He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases
strength” (Is 40:29).
David sung, “He satisfies your
mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s (Ps.
103:5- note).
David expected this to happen always. “He restores my soul” (Ps. 23:3- note),
he says. Often, David’s Psalms start in painful depression but conclude with
exultation because heavenly love has poured fresh life into his fainting
soul. From much soul sickness, Jesse’s son has recovered; from many a
sinking, he has been lifted in holy joy.
Expect this, believer. God will give
you strength as you need it. “As your days, so shall your strength be”
(Deut. 33:25). “He gives more grace” (James 4:6-
note). Revel in God’s
smile. Find a haven in His manifested love. Have faith and be of good cheer.
There are even richer mercies to come. You will be baptized again into the
Holy Spirit. You will receive anew the spirit of adoption, and your joy
shall be full. Therefore, lift up your head. (Spurgeon, C., & Clarke, R. H.
Beside Still Waters: Words of Comfort for the Soul. Nashville: Thomas Nelson
Publishers)
><>><>><>
John MacDuff's Devotional -
GRACE SUFFICIENT:
Nothing affords such sweet comfort
in a time of sickness and trial as the thought of the "all-sufficiency" of
Christ our Redeemer. Be our case ever so trying, our needs ever so numerous,
our enemies ever so strong, our fears ever so appalling, our danger ever so
imminent—Jesus is "all-sufficient." It is only our weak faith that makes us
to become downcast and sad at heart. What is the assurance of Scripture? "He
is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you always, having all
sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good word and work." "All
grace!"—"all sufficiency!"—in "all things"—and these to "abound." "Like as a
father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him."
Here there is enough surely to
afford comfort—"grace," "sufficiency," "pity."
Christian, what is your sorrow—your
trial—your temptation?
Is it, "I have had a lengthened time
of sickness and pain—my strength has failed, and the skill of man has been
unavailing. Around me I can see no ray of hope; no symptom of returning
health—no indication of the removal of my disease—and my prayers have
returned to me unanswered."
Ah, Christian, it is to be feared
there is within you a 'spirit of murmuring'. Whose hand is laid upon you?
Your Father's. Why has He chastened you? To bring your will fully into
conformity with His own. Does not He, "to whom all hearts are open, and from
whom no secrets are hidden," know best when His gracious purpose has been
accomplished in you, His child? Is it not a token for good that your days
have been prolonged? He waits but to see you bowing submissively before
Him—saying from your inmost soul, "Do with me what seems good it Your
sight"—and He will either remove the cross from off you, or give you the
blessedness of realizing the truth of these words, "My yoke is easy, and my
burden is light."
But perhaps you are distressed by
doubts and fears that God is angry with you—that in displeasure—not in
love—He has laid you low. Oftentimes you are compelled to look backward, and
the retrospect is gloomy—a retrospect of ingratitude, forgetfulness,
wandering—of warnings unheeded, providences disregarded, mercies received
unthankfully; and the thought arises—"For these transgressions I am
chastened of the Lord; they are too aggravated, too numerous, to be
forgiven."
"Forgiven!" "My grace is sufficient
for you." "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin." "If any man
sins, we have an advocate with the Father."
It is well to look backward—well to
recall the past; but not in a gloomy, despairing spirit—not as if by present
or future suffering we could atone for sin. No, assuredly—but to lead us "to
believe on Him who is able to save unto the uttermost"—to "believe, and be
saved." All our woe and misery could not atone for any one transgression;
and it is not by a painful counting up of duties undone, and sins committed,
or by a resolving ever so earnestly to be more careful in all these things
for the time to come, that we can be saved. Salvation is alone in Christ. To
Him we must go—to Him who, by His death, purchased for Himself the heirs of
death, that they might become heirs of glory, and who sends sickness and
trial to check and restrain us—to make us bethink ourselves—to bring us to
Him, the only Savior and Redeemer—that we may be driven from the world, and
from ourselves, to Him, and in Him find rest unto our souls.
Christian, look away then from self
and sin—so vile and loathsome—to Jesus your Brother, Savior, God. He will
not cast you off, guilty as you are; He will not fail to welcome you; but He
will say unto you, "Be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven!" And if at any
time you are becoming faint and weary in the pilgrimage of life, oh, turn
hopefully—turn without a misgiving to these words, "My grace is sufficient
for you; for my strength is made perfect in weakness."
But perhaps this is not your case.
You tell us, "I feel and acknowledge the infinity of God's mercy in Christ.
For years have I tasted that the Lord is gracious, and He has borne with me
amid countless sins and shortcomings; but I have an evil heart of unbelief,
against whose suggestions I have continually to struggle, and whose
temptings I sometimes feel myself unable to resist. No sooner have I gained
a victory over some besetting sin, some evil temper, some worldly
desire—than another, equally powerful and seductive, presents itself, and
from day to day I am engaged in a conflict, battling with some enemy,
resisting some onset of temptation, and hardly able to keep my ground."
Reader, yours is precisely the
Christian's experience, just what you were told to expect when you entered
the narrow way—and what you may continue to anticipate until you "enter the
rest which remains for the people of God." But why be discouraged? He who
has sustained you hitherto will be "with you" still. Your strength has often
been fast failing, but you have not been overcome; why then should you dread
that defeat awaits you? The very struggles you have maintained have added to
your strength, and given you fresh vigor; the very fear of being vanquished
has been a stimulus to new exertion, and is a sign that you "will finally
prevail." Your enemies are strong and mighty—yes, but not stronger than
those whom your blessed Savior met and trampled underfoot. He will nerve
your arm afresh for the struggle. He will help you not only to maintain your
ground, but to gain the victory; and if ever you feel within you the risings
of fear, or doubt, or despondency, oh, be cheered by these two precious
assurances—"My grace is sufficient for you;" and again, "To him who
overcomes will I grant to sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame,
and sat down with my Father on his throne."
Christian, whatever your trial,
distress, or sorrow—have faith in the promise of your Savior. All else may
fail you, but "His word stands sure." You will have your struggles and
conflicts, you will have dark and gloomy days and nights of storm and
tempest; but fear not—you will be carried safely through them all. You may
be wounded and torn, and, covered with many scars, bearing the marks of many
a hard-fought battle—with the dust of a weary journey on your garments—with
the sword not resting in its scabbard, but grasped as if for another
onset—you may be summoned from the battle-plain—but what then?
Away from conflict, from tumult, and
strife—away from sin, temptation, and sorrow—away, in that blessed home of
peace and purity, where no fear shall again disturb, no foe again attack, no
evil heart again lead astray—you will "rest from all your labors." The
trumpet will no more summon to the battle; its last clarion-note will be
"Victory!" and amid the glad hosannas of the heavenly hosts, you will be
welcomed as another conqueror—a conqueror through Him whose grace was
sufficient for you, and whose strength was made perfect in weakness.
O most gracious Father, who has
invited all who feel their need of Your grace to come unto You—have mercy
upon me, for I am in trouble. I am deeply sensible that I am far from
exercising that unreserved submission to Your will which I ought to
exercise. Help me, I beseech You, so to trust in Your infinite goodness and
unerring wisdom, that I may be able to say from my very heart, "May Your
will be done." Oh, teach me to be grateful for the manifold comforts
allotted me, and support me graciously, that my soul be not cast down and
disturbed within me. Keep me from all repining thoughts, and make Your grace
at all times sufficient for me, and perfect Your strength in my weakness.
Let my soul be supported by faith, hope, and patience, under all the
sufferings I may yet endure. Bless the means that are used, and make them
effectual, if it be Your good pleasure, for restoring me to health, that I
may again praise You in the assembly of Your saints. Make me willing to
glorify You either by life or by death. Give me a simple dependence upon
You, and enable me in all things to commit my way unto You, through Jesus
Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
"Who among you fears the Lord and
obeys his servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light,
trust in the Lord and rely on your God." Isaiah 50:10 (John MacDuff.
Encouragements to Patient Waiting)
><>><>><>
SUFFICIENT GRACE "How
precious also are Your thoughts unto me, O God!" "My grace is sufficient for
you: for My strength is made perfect in weakness." 2Cor. 12:9
The apostle's 'thoughts' were desponding ones, when his God whispered in his
ear this precious thought of comfort. A thorn in the flesh—a messenger from
Satan—had been sent to buffet him. We know not specially what this thorn may
have been. It is purposely left indeterminate, that each may make an
individual application to his own case and circumstances.
But who, in their diversified and chequered experience, has not to tell of
some similar trial?—some dead fly in life's otherwise fragrant ointment—some
sorrow which casts a softened shadow over perhaps an otherwise sunny path?
Infirm health, worldly loss, domestic anxiety, family bereavement, the
discharge of arduous and painful duty, the treachery of tried and trusted
friends, the sting of wounded pride or disappointed ambition, the fierce
struggle with inward corruption and unmortified sin, the scorpion-dart of a
violated and accusing conscience; the world all the time, perhaps little
knowing or dreaming of the inward conflict, the life-long trial, the
fountain of tears, though "a fountain sealed."
As the apostle earnestly entreated that his thorn might be taken away, so
may you, reader, also have prayed fervently and long, that your trial might
be averted, your sorrow mitigated, if not removed; and you doubtless imagine
that it would be far better, were this messenger of Satan, this spirit of
evil exorcized and cast out. But here again, God's thoughts are often not
our thoughts. What was the answer to the apostle's earnest petition when
"three times he pleaded with the Lord to take it away." It was not granting
the removal of the trial—but it was better. It was the promise of grace to
bear it. "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for you." It was
enough; he asked no more. He may have demurred at first to the strange
answer—so unlike what he expected, so unlike what he wished. But he was led
before long, not only joyfully to acquiesce, but heartily to own and
acknowledge the higher and better wisdom of the Divine procedure—"Most
gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of
Christ may rest upon me."
This, too, may be God's dealings with you. Often and again, it may be, have
you taken your hidden sorrow—the burdening secret of your heart—laid it on
the mercy-seat, and with importunate tears implored that it might be taken
away. Yet the sorrow still remains! But, nevertheless, remember, the prayer
is not unanswered. It has been answered—not perhaps according to your
thoughts or desires, but according to the better thoughts and purposes of
your heavenly Father.
The thorn is still left to pierce and lacerate; but strength has been given
to bear it. The trial, be what it may, has taught you, as it did Paul, the
lesson of your own weakness and your dependence on Divine aid. It has been a
needful drag on your chariot wheels—a needful clipping of your wings—lest,
like the great apostle, "you should be exalted above measure." Who can
complain of the heaviest of sorrows if they have thus been the means alike
of discovering to us our own weakness, and of endearing to us the
all-sufficient grace of a Savior God?
Blessed, comforting assurance—"in all time of our need," that God will deal
out the requisite grace. Seated by us like a physician, with His hand on our
pulse, He will watch our weakness, and accommodate the supply to our several
needs and circumstances. He will not allow the thorn to pierce too far—He
will not allow the temptation to go beyond what we are able to endure. "The
Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation." "As your day is so
shall your strength be."
Grace "sufficient" will be given—sufficient for every emergency. His arms
are ever lower than our troubles. I will go forth bearing my cross,
fortified with the assurance, and breathing the prayer, "Your God has
commanded your strength. Strengthen O God, that which you have wrought for
us."
Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I
will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with My victorious
right hand. Isaiah 41:10 (John MacDuff. The Thoughts of God)
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F B Meyer -
STRENGTHENETH
Philippians 4:13.
IT WAS a marvellous statement for a man to make: "I can do all things." At
first sight we suppose the speaker had either had but very little experience
of the world with its varying conditions; or that he was some favoured child
of fortune, who had never known want, because possessing an abundant supply
of wealth and power.
But closer consideration removes each supposition; and we find ourselves
face to face with a prisoner bound to a Roman soldier, who had run through
the whole scale of human experience, now touching its abundant fulness, and
anon descending to its most abject want; one who said himself: "I know how
to be abased, and I know also how to abound; in everything and in all things
have I learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound
and to be in want." It was, therefore, after a very profound experience of
the extremes of human life, and of all the variations between, that the
Apostle made that confident assertion: "I can do all things."
It is a temper of mind which we might well covet. To be superior to every
need; to bear prosperity without pride, and adversity without a murmur; to
feel that there is no earthly circumstance that can disturb the soul from
its equilibrium in God; to be able to yoke the most untameable difficulties
to the car of spiritual progress; to have such a sense of power as to laugh
at impossibility and to sing in adversity; to help the weak, even though we
might seem to need every scrap of power for ourselves; to feel amid the
changing conditions of life as a strong swimmer does in the midst of the
ocean waves, which he beats back in the proud consciousness of power--all
this, and much more, is involved in the expression, "I can do all things."
And when we ask for the talisman, which has given a frail man this
marvellous power, it is given in the words: "in Him that strengtheneth Me."
The Old Version gave "through Christ;" the New alters it to "in Him." And at
once we see the connection with all that line of inner teaching, of which,
to the careful student, the Bible is so full. Those words are the keynote of
Blessedness, first struck by our Lord, and repeated with unwearying
persistence by His immediate followers, to whom they were the secret of an
overcoming life. The one main thought of them is this--that the strength
which we covet is not given to us in a lump, for us to draw upon as we
choose, like electricity stored in boxes for use; it is a life, and it is
only to be obtained so long as we are in living union with its source. Apart
from Him we can do nothing. Whilst we are abiding in Him, nothing is
impossible. The one purpose of our life should therefore be to remain in
living and intense union with Christ, guarding against everything that would
break it, employing every means of cementing and enlarging it. And just in
proportion as we do so, we shall find His strength flowing into us for every
possible emergency. We may not always feel its presence; but we shall find
it present whenever we begin to draw on it. Or if ever we are more than
usually sensible of our weakness, one moment of upward looking will be
sufficient to bring it in a tidal wave of fulness into our hearts.
There is no temptation which we cannot master; no privation which we cannot
patiently bear; no difficulty with which we cannot cope; no work which we
cannot perform; no confession or testimony which we cannot make--if only our
souls are living in healthy union with Jesus Christ, for as our day, or
hour, is, so shall our strength be: so much so, that we shall be perfectly
surprised at ourselves, as we look back on what we have accomplished.
Dwell on that present tense, strengtheneth. (Ed:
In 2Cor 12:9,
arkeo is
not in the past or future tense but is in the
present tense
indicating that the divine gift of grace is continually sufficient)
Hour by hour, as the tides of golden sun-heat are quietly absorbed by
flowers and giant trees--so will the strength of the living Saviour pass
into our receptive natures. He will stand by us; He will dwell in us; He
will live through us--strengthening us with strength in our souls.
The dying patriarch told how his favourite child would be made strong, by
the mighty God of Jacob putting His Almighty hands over his trembling
fingers; as an archer might lay his brawny skilled hands on the delicate
grasp of his child, teaching him how to point the arrow, and enabling him to
pull back the bow string. Oh what beauty there is in the comparison! Who
would not wish to be such a favoured one, feeling ever the gentle touch of
the hands of God, empowering us, and working with us! Yet that portion may
be thine, dear reader, and mine. To the prayer first offered by Nehemiah, "O
God, strengthen my hand," God answers Himself: "I will strengthen thee."
"Wait on the Lord, and He shall strengthen thine heart." "They that wait
upon the Lord shall change their strength," i.e. they shall exchange one
degree of strength for another, in an ever ascending scale.
The strength of Christ is never found in the heart that boasts its own
strength. The two can no more co-exist, than light and darkness can
co-exist in the same space. And therefore the Apostle used to glory in
anything that reminded him of his utter helplessness and weakness. This
thought made him even acquiesce willingly to the thorn in his flesh. It was
at first his repeated prayer that it might be removed; but when the Lord
explained that His strength could only be perfected in weakness, and that
the presence of the thorn was a perpetual indication and reminder of the
weakness of his flesh, driving him to the Strong for strength, and making
him a fit subject for the conspicuous manifestation of God's might at its
full then he protested that he would most gladly glory in his weakness, that
the strength of Christ might rest upon him; for when he was weak, in his own
deep consciousness, then he was strong in the strength of the strong Son of
God (2 Cor. 12:9).
It would be a great help to us all if we could look at difficulties and
trials in this way. Considering that they have been sent, not to grieve
or annoy us, but to make us despair of ourselves, and to force us to make
use of that divine storehouse of power, which is so close to us, but of
which we make so little use. Difficulties are God's way of leading us to
rely on His almighty sufficiency. They are none of them insurmountable; they
are the triumphs of His art; they are meant to reveal to us resources of
which, had it not been for their compulsion, we might have lived in
perpetual ignorance--just as hunger has led to many of the most wonderful
inventions.
What glorious lives might be the lot of the readers of these lines, if only
they would abjure their own strength be it wisdom, wealth, station, or any
other source of creature aid; and if they would learn that the true strength
is to sit still at the source of all might and grace, receiving out of His
fulness, and mingling the song of the psalm, with the glad affirmation of
the Apostle: "I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength;" "I can do all things
through Christ that strengtheneth me!" (F. B. Meyer. The present Tenses of
the Blessed Life)
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POWER IN WEAKNESS
by Andrew Murray
"He said unto me, My strength is
made perfect in weakness. Therefore will I rather glory in my weakness, that
the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in weakness:
for when I am weak, then am I strong" 2Corinthians 12:9,10.
There is almost no word that is so
imperfectly understood in the Christian life as the word weakness.
Sin and shortcoming, sluggishness and disobedience, are given as the reasons
for our weakness. With this interpretation of weakness, the true feeling of
guilt and the sincere endeavour after progress are impossible. How can I be
guilty, when I do not do what it is not in my power to do? The Father cannot
demand of His child what He can certainly do independently. That, indeed,
was done by the law under the Old Covenant, but the Father, under the New
Covenant, does not do that. He requires nothing more of us than what He has
prepared for us to do in His Holy Spirit. The new life is a life in the
power of Christ through the Spirit.
The error of this mode of thinking is that people estimate their weakness,
not too highly, but too meagrely. They would still do something by the
exercise of all their powers, and with the help of God. They do not know
that they must be nothing before God. You think that you have still a little
strength, and that the Father must help you by adding something of His own
power to your feeble energy. This thought is wrong. Your weakness
appears in the fact that you can do
nothing.
It is better to speak of utter inability, for that is what the Scriptures
mean by the word "weakness." "Without me ye can do
nothing."
(cp Jn 15:5, see this principle dramatically illustrated by the resurrected
Jesus to His disciples, Jn 21:3, 4, 5, 6, a lesson they need to see again -
Lk 5:4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11). "In us is no power." (Ed: Of
course Murray is referring to nothing of eternal value, nothing supernatural
which requires Jesus' power!)
Whenever the young Christian acknowledges and admits to his weakness, then
he learns to understand the secret of the power of Jesus (Ed: cp Mt
15:22, 25, 26, 27, 28 [Canaanite woman "Lord, help me!"]; Mk 9:17, 18, 19,
20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 ["I do believe; help my unbelief."]; Mt 14:25,
26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 [Peter's "weakness" = he began to sink, for his fear
had replaced his faith. And yet at the point of weakness, he acknowledged
Jesus' power crying out "Lord save me"] Mt 8:24, 25, 26, 27 -
Who brought the great storm? What was God
testing? And what about the storms He allows in our life? On whose strength
will we make a conscious choice to rely when the "storms" come [They will
come beloved!]? Do we really trust that His strength is made perfect in our
weakness? Then let us act accordingly, rather than reacting out of our old
fallen nature).
He then sees that he is not to wait and pray to become stronger, to feel
stronger. No, in his inability, he is to have the power of Jesus. By
faith he is to receive it. (Ed: This is legitimate "name it,
claim it"!) He is to believe that it is for him, and that Jesus Himself will
work in and by him (Ed: cp Col 1:28-note,
Col 1:29-note,
Ep 3:20-note,
Heb 13:21-note
- In each of these passages, observe the juxtaposition of human
responsibility to act/work in faith and God's sovereign power working in and
through us). It then becomes clear to him what the Lord means when He says,
"My power is made perfect in your weakness." He knows to return the answer,
"When I am weak, then am I--yes, then am I--strong." Yes, the weaker I am,
the stronger I become. And he learns to sing with Paul, "I shall glory in my
weaknesses." "I take pleasure in weaknesses." "We rejoice when we are weak."
"The Lord is my strength and
song"
It is wonderful how glorious that life of faith becomes for him who is
content to have nothing. How glorious to feel nothing in himself and to
always live on the power of his Lord. He learns to understand what a joyful
thing it is to know God as his strength.
He lives in what the Psalms so often express, "I love Thee, O Lord, my
strength." (Ex 15:2KJV, Ps 118:14KJV-note)
"I will sing of Thy strength: unto Thee, O my strength, will I sing
praises." (Ps 59:16KJV-note,
Ps 59:17KJV-note)
He understands what is meant when a psalm says, "Give (ascribe) strength to the Lord
(Ps 29:1KJV-note):
the Lord will give strength to His people," (cp Ps 29:11KJV-note)
and when another says, "Give strength to God: the God of Israel, He
giveth strength and power to His people." (Ps 68:35KJV-note)
When we give or attribute all the power to God, then He gives it to us
again.
"I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of
God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one" (1Jn 2:14). The
Christian is strong in his Lord. (Ep 6:10-note,
cp 2Ti 4:17-note)
Not sometimes strong and sometimes weak, but always weak, and
therefore always strong. He has merely to know and use his strength
trustfully. To be strong
is a command (present
imperative;
passive voice), a mandate that must be obeyed. From obedience there comes more
strength (Ed: cp Joshua 1:18 - physical warfare, which pictures our
spiritual warfare). "Be of good courage and He shall strengthen thine heart" (Ps
31:24KJV-note).
In faith, the Christian must simply obey the command, "Be strong in the
Lord, and in the power of His might." (Ep 6:10-note)
O God of the Lord Jesus, the Father of glory give unto us the Spirit of
wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Jesus, so that we may know the
exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe (Ep 1:17-note,
Ep 1:18, 19-note).
Amen.
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J I
Packer writes that...
This (Ed: That Paul would carry the thorn
in his flesh all his life, and yet it would make perfect the Lord's strength
in his life), I believe, is a pattern likely to be worked out again and
again in your life and in mine. The Lord first of all makes us conscious of
our weakness so that in the face of some particular burden our heart cries
out, “I can’t cope with this.” We go to the Lord, telling him, “I can’t
handle this. Please take it away!” And the Lord replies, “In my strength
you can handle this, and in answer to your prayer, I will strengthen you to
handle it.” Thus in the end your testimony, like Paul’s, will be, “I can
do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13 NKJV-
