Are You Clearly Confused?

Are you sometimes confused by sayings that seem to contradict themselves? As a figure of speech, this combination of contradictory words is called an oxymoron (compressed paradox). The word oxymoron comes from two Greek words – “oxys” (sharp/keen) and “moros” (foolish). These contrasting words can be a powerful part of speech by making each one stand out more, just as contrasting colors side by side often do the same thing.  

Sometimes, however, they are just downright confusing. Have you ever been asked to send an “original copy?” These days everyone seems to have an “unbiased opinion.” Maybe after having a disagreement with someone, you have said this: I was “clearly misunderstood.” A “deafening silence” fell over the room as she announced her resignation. A friend cuts a muffin in half so you both can enjoy a piece, only to have you say: I am watching my weight, so you take the “larger half.” Literature is not exempt from these seemingly contradictory statements. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, as she stands on the balcony, Juliet says to Romeo, “Parting is such sweet sorrow.”     

We see one of those seemingly contradictory statements in the Bible as well. In 2 Corinthians 12:10 we read these words – “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

How can that be? Either you are weak or you are strong, but surely not both at the same time. Let’s look at that verse again in context. Back up a few verses and in v.5 the apostle Paul tells us that he has some weakness, some affliction. The precise nature of his affliction is not known, but in v.7 Paul says this – “Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.”

Whatever this thorn was, Paul wanted it gone. Beginning in v.8 – “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

So, just what is sufficient grace in this context? God provides His divine grace, saving us from eternal death. That unmerited favor affords us joy and delight. God’s divine influence is at work daily, transforming our weaknesses from within, so that our faith grows. That divine influence is also at work in our external weakness, so that those circumstances improve. God provides grace and influence that is enough (sufficient) to meet all that is needed when it is needed.       

We see from these verses that while the “thorn” remained, God promised that His grace is all that Paul needed, and that the best solution to removing the thorn is God’s power showing up in the midst of Paul’s weakness. What Paul is saying is that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness, and the more we acknowledge our weakness, the more evident and enabling is God’s strength in us and through us. In Ephesians 3:16 Paul prays – “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.”

So, while you might find it hard to boast about your weakness, your thorn, you can rest assured that in your weakness God’s power is at its strongest. And right now, if you are “clearly confused” by being simultaneously weak and strong, ask God to demonstrate His strength amid your weakness.

“For when I am weak, then I am strong!”

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