Polar Opposites (1)
we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NASB
Not crushed – Paul’s list of benefits reads like a colossal blunder. Do we really think that the opposite of afflicted is “not crushed,” or the opposite of perplexed is “not despairing,” etc. Imagine the sign-up sheet for God’s spiritual benefits plan. In Plan A you can have affliction, confusion, persecution and oppression. But not to worry. God offers His personal benefits plan – Plan B. Plan B gives you “not crushed,” “not despairing,” “not forsaken,” and “not destroyed.” Wait a minute! What happened to “victorious,” “at peace,” “fulfilled,” and “prosperous”? I don’t want affliction, but what is the benefit of being “not crushed.” “Not crushed” still implies lots of pressure. In fact, so much pressure that I feel in pain, that life is terrible, that things aren’t going my way. What does God offer? “Oh, no worries. This won’t kill you.” Thanks a lot. Just what I needed to hear. What about “rescue” or “relief” or “restoration” instead?
Paul isn’t offering a spiritual panacea. He uses the Greek ou stenochoroumenoi. The negative is a strong one (ou). We could read it as “never.” We are never crushed. And what does that mean? The Greek verb (stenochoreo) is a good translation of a Hebrew idea. It means to be confined to a narrow place or to be restricted in time or sustenance (see Isaiah 30:20 or Jeremiah 30:7). It’s the same root word for Yeshua’s comment about the narrow gate. Paul uses the same verb to speak about the inevitability of severe affliction on believers in this world, but with the caveat that this affliction will not separate us from the love of God. Great! A consolation prize. At least that might be the way a self-satisfying, ego-myopic culture would read these statements.
Why would Paul offer squeezing but not expiring as a benefit? Why doesn’t he just say, “God will get you out of all this. Hallelujah!” Because life is not about getting out. It is about enduring during reconciliation and restoration. God’s benefit plan is not, “Exit Here!” It is, “This way to the cross.” Endurance, endurance, endurance. Every benefit in God’s plan is tied to sticking with it to the end. God provides reinforcements, not relaxation. Paul knows this, so he writes words to help us see that even in affliction, we can be confident that we will survive. We will endure. The benefit is getting through it all. The prize is the process.
Affliction (thlibo in Greek) is being caught in the hydraulic press of life. It is the big squeeze. Hemmed in on all sides, we feel all the pressure. No way to turn. No sudden escape. No superhuman reversal. But Paul says, “You will make it. Keep going! Yes, it hurts. Yes, it’s stressful. Yes, you want out. But keep going. Fall to your knees if you must. Fall on your face when it is really heavy. But just keep going.” Hostility is the mother of endurance and the Father has conceived you to survive.
Topical Index: crushed, stenochoreo, narrow, endurance, affliction, 2 Corinthians 4:8
My family is enduring great personal tragedy. My mom and I went to a nearby town
to take my brother out to eat, who shares an apartment with 2 other guys and I found him dead.
He was 58 and my have been dead a couple of days. Please pray for the Wampler family. Today’s word
is what I need, as well as much, much more of His word for my soul. Thank you.
Bless you sister. May YHVH be your comfort in this storm.
Oh Desiree my heart goes out to you and your family, and will be praying for you all. Tonya
Desiree, Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. May He comfort you and all who mourn in Zion. Michael and Arnella
Praying for you Desiree! So sorry for the loss of your brother.
I thought it a neat comparison that the promise here is that we will not be crushed, but in Isaiah 53:5 it shows that He was crushed on our behalf. “…He was crushed for our iniquities…”
I wonder if there is a correlation between the Greek word for crushed in this passage and the Hebrew word for crushed in Isaiah? More searching is needed…
Good Grief!! (Good For You!!)
Just yesterday, my wife and I went to see “Joseph” at the Sight and Sound theatre in Branson, MO. The life of Joseph, (yes, his “life’s story”) was one of love, affliction, ego, pain, suffering, deliverance, and most importantly restoration of relationship. (love those “happy ever afters!”..)
Joseph, hated by his own brothers, was thrown into the pit to die. Now HEAR these words, and really HEAR them, again for the first time: (are you listening?) “BUT GOD…” Ahh, were it not for these two words, where would any of us be? “but God!!” These two words are a coconut cream pie in the face of Soupy Sales!! (Yeah, I know.. who on this green planet is Soupy Sales?) or.. have YOU ever had a “pie” thrown in your face? Or have you, (yourself) ever been in a “pit of despair and or despondency?”
Feelin’ low Joseph? Have your own brothers rejected you? Were you also “despised and rejected by men?” U2?- A man of sorrows and of grief? GOOOD! (good?) Yes,… “good.” Good grief?
~ It was good for me (you too, David?) that I have been afflicted, that I might learn… ~ (Selah!) and Selah! and.. Hallelujah! Thank you God for PAIN!! (huh?) R U nutz?
Nope. Clean and sober. I’ve had my “wake-up” call. I’ve known pain, I’ve know (up close and personal) my sweet sister, “Sorrow.” Been there..- done that! And I have the scars, (both internal and external to prove it!!) Ahh.. my scars! How I love them! (u crazy?) No, not at all. Clean and sober aanndd…- “wide awake!” (pain, dear friends, is “better than a cup of coffee.”. -but I prefer coffee!!) I don’t like PAIN, but PAIN is a necessary need!- And.. ~ “my” God will provide all your NEEDS, (including pain!) according to His glorious riches (and in accordance with His always perfect will) in Christ Jesus!
May I? Joseph didn’t have a clue what was “happening” to him, -did he? (poor fella!) You see.. we need to see the “big picture!!” We need to see the “sweep of his-story..” We need to see his entire life, the forest as well as the trees and to know.. (Yes, to know!!) ~ “and my God will provide all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!”
Mr./M’am, I am going to be so bold as to proclaim to each and to all: You sir, and you m’am, need pain. Yes, you do. ~ and in this world, (the beautiful one we all live in) I can guarantee you this- you WILL have affliction! No one.. (no, not one) ‘escapes pain. Or sorrow. Or affliction. It is so, (and amen!).
The big twenty five cent question is “Why?” Why is it ~ good for me to be afficted? ~ And why is is ~ good for you to be afflicted and to suffer sorrow and pain?
Enuf verbosity! Teach me. Pain is my teaher! Sorrow is my sister! I learn every single time I suffer!. Doctor, – it hurts when I do this! (The cure?) El Stupido, (o, stupid one and hard of heart and of hearing) – DON’T DO THAT!! WHACK!!- Hit him again with that two-by-four, I don’t think he (or she) is listening!!
There is something strange.. a strange “tie”, a very strange “link” between our gluteus maximus and our listening ability!.. Ker- spank! Oh son!, Oh daughter!- I do not desire (at all) to do this, but I MUST do this! ~ Chasten (do not punish!!) your child while there is yet hope!! ~ CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW???
Oh daddy! (me) Please don’t yell! P.S… God NEVER yells! lol! no, never. But He does “spank,” and then He speaks only truth! Friends, (it is true!) The Truth.. often (ouch!)
Cold, hard and sometimes (not at all times!) painful truth! Ahh.. but it is ~ Good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn!!! ~
Thank you PAIN, for being my best teacher! I remember!! Now… – who else was made “perfect ” (mature) through suffering? Yes, it was the Captain of our common salvation, our common deliverance, our LORD Jesus, Himself!! Who (also) learned obedience the very same way we do!! Yep. By suffering!! Who are we growing up to be? I want to be and I will be!- “just, like Him!” or “righteous” (rightly-related) and (Hallelujah times ten!!) for this “gospel good news!!” (are we listening?) Good!
~ AFTER (there IS an after!!) After you (sir or m’am, or Joseph or Jim or Jane) have suffered awhile, make you perfect (mature in your relationships and faith), stablish, strengthen, settle you!!~ (1 Peter 5.10)
How to have a “settled faith!” (Joseph) Trust and obey! Obey Him, trust Him- right “there” in the pit!! Ohh, it is so “easy” to love God while in the palace.. – isn’t it ? But while in the pit or the prison? Not so easy!! BUT!! (love those big Bible “buts!!”) No matter the situation or circumstance.. God is always able to deliver YOU!! ~ A faithful (faith-filled) man will abound with blessings! ~ And Joseph, you were “semper fi!!” (Always Faithful!!)
Joseph, not your “average Joe!” We have His-story. But what’s your Life’s story? What is your story of rescue and redemption? Of salvation and sustenance and shalom? Of provision and pardon and peace?
I heard an old, old story,
How a Savior came from glory,
How He gave His life on Calvary
To save a wretch like me;
I heard about His groaning,
Of His precious blood’s atoning,
Then I repented of my sins;
And won the victory.
O victory *in Jesus*,!!
My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him,
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood.
I heard about His healing,
Of His cleansing power revealing.
How He made the lame to walk again
And caused the blind to see;
And then I cried, “Dear Jesus,
Come and heal my broken spirit,”
And somehow Jesus came and brought
To me the Victory.
I heard about a mansion
He has built for me in glory.
And I heard about the streets of gold
Beyond the crystal sea;
About the angels singing,
And the old redemption story,
And some sweet day I’ll sing up there
The song of Victory.
~ they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are your works, LORD God, the Almighty!! Righteous and true are Your ways, You, Sovereign King of all nations ~ (Revelation 15.3)
Yes. It is true. ~ every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess.. Jesus Christ is LORD!! ~
Nobody ever promised us a rose garden.
But we do get a pathway strewn with thorns
as the way of Christ so vividly portrays.
We may quibble over Paul’s choice of words
but his purpose is to undeniably underscore
the presence of God in a believer’s life.
A presence that doesn’t remove us from trouble,
but a presence that provides the grace of perserverence
in the trouble . . . along with the knowledge of “Who” it is
that lives within us during the difficulties. And as He loves and
guides us through the ups and downs, He also leads us to
understand “why”.
Many scriptures share this revelation but 1 Pet 4:1-2 is keen.
“Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves
also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has
ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time
in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”
1 Pet 5:10 adds a perfect ending to it all, as Carl has already noted.
“But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by
Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen,
and settle you.”
This life is just a tune up. Eternal glory awaits!
Desiree,
Prayers from my heart to the One True God, YHVH, will be focused on you and your family at this shocking, agonizing time. I will especially be praying that the TRUTH be discovered about the cause of death and why the roommates didn’t know of his demise! Right now, may I pray with you:
OH LORD God Almighty, Comfort Desiree with the tenderness only You have in order to restore our souls. Use this tragedy to draw her family to You and to impress on the roommates and others who knew this man how frail life is and that it comes from You. Calm Desiree, LORD. Let her feel Your presence ever more tangibly. Because Yeshua lives, Amen.
Skip,
You have deeply touched my soul today. Your words spoken to people with chronic, debilitating disease are a huge clarity and encouragement, especially in this apostate church world of “name it and claim it,” God wants you healthy and wealthy, etc. I live out what you say here but I’ve never found the words to teach others how I do it. I always just send them to Job.
I’d like to talk to you about your copyrights and ask whether I can cut and paste this to my website, created as an encouragement to those with Fibromyalgia (the #1 cause of death is suicide) http://www.bittermansbanners.com (A lot of re-vamping of the site is being done as I grow to know my HEBREW LORD’s ways. Any suggestions would be fabulous!)
struck down, but not destroyed; 2 Corinthians
Hmmm
That’s the theme of one of my Mother’s favorite books
The Old Man and the Sea
Man can be defeated, but not Destroyed
DEAR FRIENDS, Throughout many years at different times I have studied 2 Corinthians, and these verses; I would like to use JB Phillips Translation of these verses as some of my very favorite ones. It is not translated verse by verse. So jumping into Chapter 4:v. 7, “This priceless treasure we hold, so to speak, in a common earthenware jar–to show that the splendid power of it belongs to God and not to us. We are handicapped on all sides, but we are never frustrated; we are puzzled, but never in despair. We are persecuted, but we never have to stand it alone: we may be knocked down but we are never knocked out! Every day we experience something of the death of Jesus, so that we may also know the power of the life of Jesus in these bodies of ours. Yes, we who are living are always being exposed to death for Jesus’ sake , so that the life of Jesus may be plainly seen in our mortal lives. We are always facing death but this means that you know more and more of life.——–
v.14. “For we too speak because we believe, and we know for certain that he who raised the Lord Jesus from death shall also raise us with Jesus. We shall all stand together before him.
v. 15. ” We live a transitory life with our eyes on the life eternal” “We wish you could see how all this is working out for your benefit, and how the more grace God gives, the more thanksgiving will redound to his glory. This is the reason we never collapse. The outward man does indeed suffer wear and tear, but every day the inward man receives fresh strength. These little troubles ( which are really so transitory) are winning for us a permanent, glorious and solid reward out of all proportion to our pain. For we are looking all the time not at the visible things but at the invisible. The visible things are transitory: it is the invisible things that are really permanent.”
I truly hate to stop it goes on to so many more beautiful things we all need to be reminded of regularly! How God’s Words given here to us by the Apostle Paul, lift us up out of the pit into His glorious Spirit.
Dear Desiree,
Please accept these glorious verses above in JB Phillips English translation, hope you can print it to keep with you through all of the things that have come and will come from your dear brother’s untimely death. I have just completed four months since my beloved husband of almost 61 years left his earthly body and entered into his spiritual body. I know you are reeling along with your precious mother, and other close relatives. I had several months of walking through severe preparation with my 84 year old husband, along with our large family (but none live near us), but they all came at different times to be with their father, grandfather, and even six little great grandchildren.
Yes, 59 is seemingly to early to leave this world, BUT FOR OUR HOPE ETERNAL HOW COULD WE COPE? WELL IN A FOG PROBABLY FOR AWHILE, AS WE CLING TO HIS WORDS THAT GIVE US THAT HOPE WHEN OUR BRAINS DO NOT WANT TO EVEN FUNCTION, OR OUR BODIES TOO ARE NUMB.
I HAVE MANY YEARS OF PRACTICAL MINISTRY IN HELPING IN VARIED WAYS, AND IF YOU JUST HAVE A NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE, PLEASE CALL ME , I WILL ANSWER IF HERE, ( leave a message with a # if I do not answer) AND THEN I WILL RETURN YOUR CALL SO IT WILL BE ON MY PHONE BILL, ALSO AM DEALING WITH LEGAL THINGS RIGHT NOW, LEARNING A LOT ABOUT CENTRAL TEXAS LAW.
512-556-0556 NO STRINGS OR GIMMICKS, OR EVEN MONEY ASKED, EVER– SINCERELY as I pray for peace for all of you! LaVaye Billings