3/21/1982
2 Cor. 1.9-10–“we should not trust in ourselves but in God who delivered us from so great a death, and in whom we trust will yet deliver us.”
The life of the apostle Paul is a life of superlatives. He excelled in zeal, in work, and in suffering. He was misunderstood, criticized, and persecuted. He travelled extensively and he accomplished great things for the Lord. His writing reflect the superb psychology of a life hid with Christ in God. Paul’s life was superlative because he remember the God of the past, observed the God of the present, and expected that same God to continue to deliver him. In this we find the tenses of a victorious and superlative life. Notice he says ‘who deliver us from so great a death’. The word US is significant. God did not just deliver Paul, he has delivered us from death, from violence, from despair, from bereavement, from disease. Even sin has not overcome us. We are yet alive in body, in mind, and in spirit. Truly the Lord has helped us and he will deliver.
Paul observes that God is even now delivering us. In Him we live and move and have our being. God delivers us from despair, even in the valley of the shadow of death. God said ‘my grace is sufficient for you’ to Paul, the much persecuted and beaten man with a thorn in his flesh. God said ‘let not your heart be troubled’. So our expectation should be in God in whom we trust— trust that he will deliver us. Yes God will deliver us, there is no doubt about it. This deliverance will come through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Thn let our memory of the past added to the observation of the present, prompt sincere and unwavering faith. In confident expectation of all the good that God has in store for us. That we may have eternal life in that beautiful land where there is no sin or sorrow, but eternal bliss forever, in that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Amen
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