Far beyond our ability to endure-2 Corinthians 1:8-10
I have been in quarantine with a respiratory virus, and I have been looking at videos of people recovering from the Corona virus and in each testimony you will find that while suffering through, each one reach the brink or came to the edge of knowing they were going to die. Just like Paul stated in, 2 Corinthians 1:8-10- 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. 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. 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, we are not sure what particular troubles in Asia, Paul is referred to; whether the tumult raised by Demetrius at Ephesus, mentioned Acts 19:24-41, or the fight with beasts at Ephesus, mentioned in the former epistle (1 Cor. 15:32), or some other trouble; for the apostle was close to death many times.
Some of us may feel like Paul, battling this Corona virus, you are over your head, you are drowning. You have done everything in your power and nothing has worked. Your struggle during this situation is that it leads to death.
Knowing that feeling of death, may be the worst, but our extremity is God’s opportunity. In the mount will the Lord be seen; and we may safely trust in God, who raise the dead, 2 Cor. 1:9. God’s raising the dead is a proof of his almighty power. He that can do this can do any thing, can do all things, and is worthy to be trusted in at all times.
Some of us may feel like Paul, battling this Corona virus, you are over your head, you are drowning. You have done everything in your power and nothing has worked. Your struggle during this situation is that it leads to death.
Knowing that feeling of death, may be the worst, but our extremity is God’s opportunity. In the mount will the Lord be seen; and we may safely trust in God, who raise the dead, 2 Cor. 1:9. God’s raising the dead is a proof of his almighty power. He that can do this can do any thing, can do all things, and is worthy to be trusted in at all times.
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Once you have seen Him, you can never be the same. Other things will not have the appeal they did before.
You should always recognize the difference between what you see Jesus to be and what He has done for you. If you see only what He has done for you, your God is not big enough. But if you have had a vision, seeing Jesus as He really is, experiences can come and go, yet you will endure “as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). The man who was blind from birth did not know who Jesus was until Christ appeared and revealed Himself to him (see John 9). Jesus appears to those for whom He has done something, but we cannot order or predict when He will come. He may appear suddenly, at any turn. Then you can exclaim, “Now I see Him!” (see John 9:25).
Jesus must appear to you and to your friend individually; no one can see Jesus with your eyes. And division takes place when one has seen Him and the other has not. You cannot bring your friend to the point of seeing; God must do it. Have you seen Jesus? If so, you will want others to see Him too. “And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either” (Mark 16:13). When you see Him, you must tell, even if they don’t believe.
O God, when I walk through the valley, You are near me and take away my fear. You comfort me and set before me a feast, and I will dwell in Your house forever.-Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Psalm 23:4
The Lord has infinite patience with those of us who hurt. He waits lovingly until we return to His tender care. But it can become a way of life, a threat to God's faithfulness, if we refuse to wake up and renew our faith and hope in Him. Some become so disillusioned, they give in to their lusts and passions. They indulge their desires because the battle seems so hopeless. It's their way of saying, "What's the use? I call on God to help me, to deliver me, but help never comes. I've still got this thing in me, after all my tears and prayers."
It finally comes to this: "I have a right to do it—because I've been hurt so badly." It's a threat to God, a way of getting even with Him for not answering prayer on schedule.
Beloved, there is hope! The Lord of Hosts is with us! He alone is our keeper. He will not let His us slip or fall. We are held in the palm of His hand.
Let us do as Christ did. He "committed himself to him that judge righteously" (1 Peter 2:23). "To commit" is to place your life completely in His hands. Give up your struggle, quit trying to accomplish anything in your own strength, and commit the keeping of your body and soul to the Lord of Hosts! AMEN AMEN!!!
In (2 Kings 6:15–17), a servant of the prophet Elisha got up early and found an army surrounding them. "His servant said to him, 'Alas, my master! What shall we do?' So he answered, 'Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.' And Elisha prayed, and said, 'Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.' Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha".
I never wanted to live there, I had said, "God, I see something in Your Word. You operate in a kingdom that cannot be seen with natural eyes and sometimes cannot be comprehended with the natural mind. It cannot be attained with natural ability. You invite us into this kingdom by faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross. You give us Your Holy Spirit to take the victory You won and show us what we have inherited."
In (1 Corinthians 2:12, 14)it says it this way: "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God... But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" . In other words, the man who lives by his own strength and reasoning cannot know the things of the kingdom of God. He will always live in a realm of "What shall we do? What can we do?" It will always be that reasoning....