There is hardly a better apology for the state of weakness on the pages of the Bible. In a world and culture that extolled power and success (always a pagan obsession), the apostle Paul embraced everything that made his life miserable.

“The prophets and the apostles had access to that pain, they embraced it as their own, they felt it, and contrary to any intuition it obviously sustained them. It is counterintuitive and paradoxical indeed that pain could sustain, and build-up character. Unless that pain is the expression of undying love…”