Are You at a Loss?

[559 words] Paul said, “We are perplexed, but not in despair” (2 Cor. 4:8). The word perplexed means more than just being puzzled. It comes from aporeo which means “to be at loss with one’s self, be in doubt; not to know how to decide or what to do, to be perplexed” (Thayer, 66). We might say it means to be at your wit’s end. No man has all the answers. No one knows the best way to handle every situation. Even Paul didn’t. He could work miracles and write by inspiration, but he didn’t always have a clear idea about how best to deal with a situation or how it would end. Earlier in 2 Corinthians he spoke of a trying ordeal in Ephesus (2 Cor. 1:8-10). He was in such danger that he had “the sentence of death,” that is, he thought he would die. But he didn’t….