The Holy Bible
8 …… We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability
to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. 9 In
fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and
learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. 10 And he did
rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our
confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us. 11 And
you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because
God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety.
12 We can say with confidence and a clear conscience that
we have lived with a God-given holiness (honesty) and sincerity in all our
dealings. We have depended on God’s grace, not on our own human wisdom. That is
how we have conducted ourselves before the world, and especially toward you.
(Bible
Translation and Location: New Living Translation - 2 Corinthians 1:8-12)
Thoughts:
I believe that what Paul was
really saying at the beginning of these verses is something that we struggle
with more often than we might care to acknowledge. It seems like many times we
wait to seek God’s favor, help and/or direction until we have given up all hope
of trying to handle the situation ourselves. The great apostle Paul was guilty
of the same thing, because he declared in verse 9 that basically when they had
exhausted all effort and hope for survival, then they stopped relying on self and turned the matter over to
God. Friends I believe that stories like this were intentionally placed in the
Bible under God’s leadership, because He knew that there would be another set
of Christians just like Paul, who would follow the same stubborn path. Why is
this? I believe that there may be several reasons: 1). It may be due to lack of
communion with God. I have found that when my wife and I go through times of
extreme busyness and don’t take time to communicate like we should, often there
are things that I forget to share with her. You and I have allowed our lives to
become so busy because of over committing ourselves and lack of priority, that
the thing that screams most at us, gets our attention; 2). It may be due to us
not wanting to bug God for every little thing, so we wait until items are
totally out of our control (like Paul and Timothy did). Perhaps this study will
serve to remind us that we build confidence in God through talking with Him and
seeing answers to the little stuff and, that major items never grow into such.
And 3). It may be that God intentionally uses times like these to wake us up
from our sleepiness and distractions that interfere in our relationship with
Him, and while He has our attention, perhaps deals with us about other
spiritual/Godly things that require attention. Please also look closely at
verse 10, for Paul tells us that this experience gave them confidence to know
that God will rescue them in the future, because of the miraculous rescue and
answer to prayer in the current application. Like Paul said in verse 12, having
experienced God’s wonderful power, we must learn to depend on God’s grace at
all times, and not our own wisdom. When the world sees that, then they will
know whose we are! Lord, may they always see Jesus when they look at His kids!
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank You for being
my God, my Deliverer, my Healer, my Friend and Savior. May I be very open in my
relationship with You, yet very dedicated to time with You, so that we may
communicate at all times. Thank You for bringing Paul and Timothy to their
senses, opening their eyes to Truth and reminding them of who’s in charge.
Thank You for leading me to this passage this morning, because I desperately
need Your guidance and overwhelming power in my life even today, I am guilty of
trying to settle/handle the little things myself. Please keep me awake and
willing to share with You every little life experience and challenge, so that
You may show Your power, before the ‘big’ things ever develop. Lord, this will
be very foreign to those that may read this without a close relationship with
You. Please open their spiritual eyes to the Truth, Your Word that should
direct our path every day. I love You Lord! Thank You for who You are, and for
claiming me as Your very own Son! I celebrate Your goodness, and plead for Your
ongoing grace, in the wonderful name of Your Sin, Jesus. AMEN!
FOOTNOTE: If you have been challenged to make a decision
today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching
pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and
give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with
Jesus. Any words underlined above will indicate a link to a song that came to
mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as
you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see
more, please go to blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely subscribe
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not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, Sebring,
FL!
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