One of my devotional readings this morning was entitled, “Relying on God in Times of Trouble.” The scriptural reference was 2 Corinthians 1:8-11. In this epistle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, he shared with them the difficulties he and the other evangelists faced in spreading the gospel message. He is honest with them and admits to feelings of despair as the dangers mounted. The key to his witness are verses 9 and 10 that read, “… But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us.”
Despite the physical and emotional hardships he was enduring, Paul held to the one surety: God. Of course I see a parallel between his situation then and ours today. As we continue to awaken to the despairing numbers of those touched by the virus in our land; to ongoing needs of front line workers; of medicines that do live up to the hype of the White House; to forecasts of recession as the unemployed numbers climb; to disunity as politics muddy the waters and the welfare of the populace drowns in a sea of twits, we can be forgiven feelings of despair. Surely if the giant of the Christian movement felt such during his time of turmoil, we can also. Sadly, the comparison ends there for far too many followers of Jesus. Paul looked at the afflictions and saw as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the hand of God – “But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God...”
My contention today is that we who profess Christ must do the same. If we ever needed a faith test before, we obviously have one now. This virus and its capacity to infect and kill seemingly at will is unsettling; we grapple with what God’s plan in allowing it could possibly be. Somehow we must put on and pull up our “big girl and big boy” faith pants and walk in that same faith Paul expressed. Today, let us join the Apostle Paul and say with conviction, “On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us…” (2 Corinthians 1:10b)
Love. Joy. Peace.
Amen!! On Jesus the Solid Rock I Stand All other Ground is Sinking Sand!! What a Great Word!! (To Remember) “But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God…” Praise God