To Encourage You

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”

The Christian life is a life full of paradoxes.  For example, we are told to “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). But on the other hand, we are told “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them” (Matthew 6:1).  Jesus is called the “Prince of Peace” in Isaiah 9:6, but then one of the things He said was “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34).  We are told that we are not to test the Lord our God in Luke 4:12, but then in Malachi 3:10 God tells us to do just that.  And we are people that have been given the gift of eternal life (John 3:16), although we are said to be those who “die every day” (1 Corinthians 15:31). 

So how do we make sense of such things?  Is God speaking to us out of both sides of His mouth?  Of course, the answer is no, for God is One Who cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18).  But as He teaches us, He must show us that there are often “two sides to the same coin,” and as we grow in our relationship to Him, we grow in our understanding of what those “two sides” are. 

Suffering as believers in Christ is another such paradox.  We are those Who have given our lives to the One Who came “to proclaim good news to the poor. . . proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, (and) proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).  Yet, often the believer finds that in following Christ, his or her life becomes more challenging and more difficult after they believe in many ways. 

Throughout Scripture we are taught how suffering is used by God, because there’s really no other way to refine our lives as fire refines gold by burning out the impurities which makes us more and more useful for the kingdom of God.  But in the midst of those trials, we are given great solace in passages like the one above from 2 Corinthians 4. Here, we are taught that although believers often suffer, there is always a limit to that suffering as ordained by our sovereign and omnipotent God.  For example, note how it says we are “hard pressed but not crushed.”  How awesome it is to know this.  Pressure, hard pressure, can be part of a believer’s life.  Things that may seem overwhelming can “threaten to undo us” in the words from Martin Luther’s hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.”  But though it may seem we will be undone, and while things can sometimes seem utterly hopeless, they never are for the believer. 

One of the Scriptures that I held onto with my fingernails in one of the darkest times of my life was the following one: “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).  Do you hear that?  No matter how difficult the situation we face as believers, no matter how overwhelming it seems, there is always a limit placed on that difficulty ordained by our omnipotent Father in heaven.  Whenever we feel like we can’t endure one more day of “this,” whatever “this” is, the truth of God’s Word is that “yes you can” and chances are that you felt the same way yesterday, yet here you are! 

God knows each of us better than we know ourselves.  He is with us in that furnace of affliction, and He is in the same boat with us in the midst of any storm. He will not leave us nor forsake us, come what may.  In all of it He is working for our good, no matter how things look at the moment.  As Peter came to learn, and then taught us with these words: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:12-13).

It’s such a paradox: enduring suffering with Him to witness His glory on the other side of that suffering.  It’s perplexing, but wonderfully true.  So, if we will but look to Him with faith, and believe His awesome words, we can face any trial that comes with rejoicing rather than the despair that can overwhelm those who’ve yet to meet the One Who holds the whole world in His hands.