seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Corinthians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 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. 7 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.
8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
Good morning! I'm not going to quote from the commentary this morning. I do encourage everyone to take a few minutes and read it.Neither I, nor the commentary, can state the "trouble" Paul got into. One thing for sure, he's gone through something really depressing. In verse 8 he says he "despaired of life itself".
I've been there. I've asked God why I had to keep living. As a matter of fact, this half blind stuff I'm going through now has me really close to suicidal. I would love to just get in a car and drive myself to the store. I would love to take a hike up the side of a mountain, the way I did before. This is my second trip though this valley.
Paul is unliked. He claims to be an Apostle of Jesus.... when in fact no one saw or heard Jesus on the road to Damascus but Paul. He has no witness to his tale and Jesus never knocked anyone down! Jesus was loving, kind, and patient. For Jesus to stoop to knocking down this ugly, selfish, bigheaded Jew, would be demeaning, IMHO.... But that is exactly what Paul is claiming. No one likes a liar. It leaves us thinking Paul is infiltrating the church so he can kill it from the inside.
Paul does make a good point though. God is more than willing and capable of taking away the deepest depression. He may not choose to... right away... as He might have a lesson in the works... But He is willing and capable. In this despair I'm dealing with, I thank God for each day, and I pray that today will be the day I figure out how to live with the lack of depth perception. God is willing and capable of helping me do this. I am willing and almost capable of letting Him take over. I haven't been falling as much lately and my arms are all healed from all the times I ran into the wall in my own home.
There is a song that I have used when I have gotten really depressed.
It says "Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, guess I'll go eat worms".
It really doesn't matter if someone likes you or not. It really doesn't matter what people think. The Father is the only one who will be the final judge.
I hope I don't eat worms today.
