Being Brought To Our Senses

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 for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. If you are anywhere near the Highlands County, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, Sebring, FL!