2 Corinthians 1:9-11 The Message
8-11 We don’t want you in the dark, friends, about how hard it was when all this came down on us in Asia province. It was so bad we didn’t think we were going to make it. We felt like we’d been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally—not a bad idea since he’s the God who raises the dead! And he did it, rescued us from certain doom. And he’ll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing. You and your prayers are part of the rescue operation—I don’t want you in the dark about that either. I can see your faces even now, lifted in praise for God’s deliverance of us, a rescue in which your prayers played such a crucial part.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
If you have ever traveled in the deep country, where there are nothing but narrow two lane and rutted dirt roads, then you’ve probably seen the sign,
“Pick your rut carefully, you’ll be in it for the next 20 miles.”
You know what it is like.
A story is told of a frog who was hopping across a dirt road and he fell into a rut.
He tried to jump out of it, but he couldn’t.
He cried out to his friends, “Help me, I’m stuck in this rut.”
Well his friends could not pull him out but they offered him encouragement and support, telling him what they had done when they had recently been in similar situations, assuring him he could do it, but he said he had tried and he couldn’t.
After a short while it was time for all his friends to leave, everyone was very sad, but there was nothing more they could do.
You can imagine their surprise when the next morning they saw all their friends at the riverbank.
“What happened?” they asked, “We thought you were stuck in the rut.”
“Well, so did I” their friend answered, “I thought it was a hopeless situation, when all of a sudden a sanitation truck came down the road and its tires were traveling in my rut! We had no choice but to rely on our survival, to hop to it.”
Someone once said the only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.
It Always Takes Great Pressure to Make Diamonds
2 Corinthians 1:8-9 Amplified Bible
8 For we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about [a]our trouble in [the west coast province of] Asia [Minor], how we were utterly weighed down, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life [itself]. 9 Indeed, we felt within ourselves that we had received the sentence of death [and were convinced that we would die, but this happened] so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.
The Christian life is full of utterly impossible challenges.
Do we think we can overcome our sin and live a holy life in our own strength?
Have at it, my friend!
Come back in six months and tell me how it’s going for you.
You think you have enough wisdom and experience to help your children whatever their age, navigate all the landmines, pitfalls of their young life?
Well huzzah for you! (Side note: we really need to bring the word “huzzah” back into usage.)
Do you think you have enough personal insight to untangle the sticky relational or financial mess you, your family might be finding themselves in right now?
Do you think you have the strength to sufficiently lead your co-workers, small group, a worship team, a counseling team, a church planting team, or a church?
Do you believe you have the strength to sufficiently lead your own two feet to the floor of your bedroom when you first wake up after a “night” of slumber.
Right.
God bless,
Have at it my friend.
I’ll pray for you to have a soft bed in a padded room waiting for your return.
The reality is, God constantly finds us in situations of our own making that are impossibly far beyond our ability to bear up to.
He looks every which direction for us and always finds us smack dab inside the middle of befuddling, perplexing, overwhelming, even crushing circumstances.
Why does God keep looking for, finding us in these places?
Why does God keep on perpetually nudging us in our ribcages – “I AM here’
To assure us.
To humble us.
To quiet us.
To subtly or not so subtly redirect our spiritual eyesight.
To emphasize and indeed even over emphasize this point, to make us painfully aware, sharply remind us, we cannot make it through this life apart from him.
To shine the brightest lights in our eyes, cause us to look up and away from the catastrophe directly in front of us, highlight our desperate dependence on him.
God strips us of our own strength to make us totally reliant upon his strength.
God allowed Paul to be pushed and pressed, hit and hammered, beaten and even ship wrecked and even sentenced to “death,” SO THAT he would not rely upon himself, but straight upon the grace, the power of the God who raises the dead. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)
God allows us to get into situations that are so far beyond our ability to survive so that when failure comes, deliverance comes, only God can receive the glory.
Speaking of pastoral ministry (but this quote applies equally to a million other situations), 19th Century English Theologian Charles Bridges says:
“Did we depend upon the failing support of human agency [strength], or upon the energy of mere moral suasion [our ability to persuade] – we should cry out, prostrate in heartless despondency – “Who is sufficient for these things?” But the instant recollection – that “our sufficiency is of God” – “lifts up our hearts in the ways” and work of the Lord.” (The Christian Ministry, page 19)
Are you in a situation that is too hard for you?
Are you being stretched beyond your spiritual gifts and abilities?
Are you pushed down and crushed, even to the point of despair?
Do you feel like butter scraped over too much bread?
Do you feel like you want to run and hide in some cave like David frequently did?
Maybe dig up your backyard and install an underground bunker, lock all doors?
You really only have two options.
2 Corinthians 1:8-9 Amplified Bible
8 For we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about [a]our trouble in [the west coast province of] Asia [Minor], how we were utterly weighed down, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life [itself]. 9 Indeed, we felt within ourselves that we had received the sentence of death [and were convinced that we would die, but this happened] so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.
Behind door number one: throw your hands up not in praise but to give up.
Let the mounting lack of self-control, despair, anger, impatience and unbelief wash over you like an acidic shower, slowly dissolving eating away at your faith.
Start calling yourself: “highly educated motivated professional worldly realist.”
Allow all of the class 5 storms of unbridled cynicism to have their way with you.
OR…
2 Corinthians 1:10-11 Amplified Bible
10 He rescued us from so great a threat of death, and will continue to rescue us. On Him we have set our hope. And He will again rescue us [from danger and draw us near], 11 while you join in helping us by your prayers. Then thanks will be given by many persons on our behalf for the gracious gift [of deliverance] granted to us through the prayers of many [believers].
Behind door number two: Fully rely upon the God who raises from the dead.
Throw aside any foolish remnants of self-sufficiency and depend wholly upon our mighty, powerful God.
Depend upon God alone to work in your rebellious children.
Fully Rely On God who alone is Always #1
Depend upon God alone to work mightily in your shaky financial condition.
Fully Rely On God who alone is Always #1
Depend upon God alone to save your “un-savable” relative.
Fully Rely on God who alone is Always #1
Depend upon God alone to give you physical and emotional strength to serve your family.
Fully Rely on God who alone is Always #1
Depend upon the God who slays giants, shuts lions’ mouths, and rescues out of fiery furnaces.
Fully Rely on God who alone is Always #1
God does incredible things, God does the incomparable, does the impossible when we finally stop relying upon our own abilities and start relying on him.
He does incredible things, the incomparable things, the impossible things when we finally “raise a white flag” on our own abilities, find all our strength in him.
Come out from the darkness, into the Kingdom of God, in the Strength of God!
In the name of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Dear Lord Jesus,
I know you must have countless reasons for allowing me to go through difficult circumstances, but here in your word I find one that comforts me. You are teaching me not to rely on myself. That’s a big job. I was born wanting to be in charge and my raising in this culture is geared toward making me self sufficient. So, when life is too big for me, that’s okay. I’m constantly learning that it’s not too big for you. You are, from everlasting to everlasting, bigger than the complexities of my life and will deliver me from my troubles. You send help in a myriad of ways. Some I have not even thought of yet. I will set my hope on you that you will deliver me from all my troubles. Help me remember this passage today as I face health issues, mechanical failures, relationship stresses and challenges in my work. Help to remember that you are a prayer away from delivering me. Don’t let me drive myself to your hospital. I will call your 911 and you pick me up. You loved me and finally you died for me, your grave was empty, were raised, were resurrected, how would you ever not rescue me?
Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 