For we do not want
you to be uninformed, brethren, about the affliction and oppressing
distress which befell us in [the province of] Asia, how we were so utterly and
unbearably weighed down and crushed that we despaired even of life
[itself]. Indeed, we felt within ourselves that we had received the [very]
sentence of death, but that was to keep us from trusting in and
depending on ourselves instead of on God Who raises the dead. - 2 Corinthians
1:8-9, AMP
Your afflictions have two important
factors: 1) It is not about you. God will use you to minister to someone else
about the same burdens that you are enduring right now. 2) Your burdens, no
matter how difficult, are for the glory of God, that His excellencies may be
revealed in your life. As I read the above scripture, I’m thankful to God for
the Apostle Paul’s ministry. I’m thankful for his obedience and honesty about
his sufferings. Sometimes I wonder what if Paul would have given up or returned
back to his old life because the road got rough. Paul always talked about his
sufferings as a Christian and how he endured. In the scripture, the first words
say, “We do not want you to be uninformed.” He is showing us that in this
Christian walk you will face affliction and oppressing distress. You will feel
like giving up because you feel defeated and crushed in your spirit. He says
that they “felt within that they had received the very sentence of death.” He
obviously felt that at some point it was so bad that they thought they were
going to die. But the next verse says, “but that was to keep
us from trusting in and depending on ourselves instead of on God Who
raises the dead.” Has it ever gotten so bad in your life that you had nowhere else
to turn except to God? Has it ever been so terrible that your family, friends,
or church couldn’t even help you? Well, Paul is saying, it was this way for Him
that he may learn to trust and depend on God alone.
Many
times, we go through things in life failing to realize that it is not about us.
However, it is all about Christ. If you’ll take the time to read about Paul’s
sufferings, it will amaze you. He endured some horrible things but only by the
grace of God. Through his sufferings, he learned to trust and depend on God,
not people. Sometimes God will allow us to go through a season of loss or
suffering to teach us to be totally dependent on Him. In the midst of that, we
cannot give up. We cannot lose hope and faint. If we do, how can we minister to
others that are suffering? You need to endure patiently until God delivers you.
As a result, you can minister to someone else about how the Lord has delivered
you and will also deliver them. Paul says, “If we are distressed, it is for
your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which
produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for
you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also
you share in our comfort.” (2 Corinthians 1:6-7, NIV) What Paul is
saying is that he suffered that we may have comfort and salvation. He knew it
was not all about Him. Furthermore, the Bible says that God is the God of all
comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3). The same way that God comforts us in our
sufferings, we in turn can comfort someone else in their time of suffering.
It’s easy to become depressed and
internalize every issue in our lives. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of
the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every
side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted,
but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying
about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may
be manifested in our body (2 Corinthians 4:7-10). That treasure we have in this
earthen vessel is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the message of salvation, hope,
and eternal life. We carry that precious treasure whether we are afflicted or
not. We are expected to continue on whether hurting or not.
Stand
on this: Therefore,
we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the
inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but
for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things
which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the
things which are not seen are eternal.
Be
Blessed