Three Words

I came across this verse yesterday on a website, and it struck me in a rather new way -- not unlike my reading of the passage a few days earlier where Jesus calms the storms, seeing that in a very new light as well. Here too, as Paul writes to the Corinthians, he's writing to me -- that in times of darkness, of suffering, of great despair, we have hope. There's a reason for this rough and brambled path -- there's hope.

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt 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. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us. (2 Corinthians 1:8-10)

I was struck by the first sentence -- Paul is being very open with his readers about what they're going through. "I do not want you to uninformed" -- in other words, "Listen up, guys: life is really crappy right now. Make no mistake -- it's tough. It's scary. It's downright terrible." Their experiences have been beyond difficult, beyond dark, utterly insufferable. And yet he's not sugar-coating anything; he's not giving the usual response of "Oh, yeah, we're OK ..." when they're really not. It struck me that in our culture today, people don't often really share what they're going through -- it's not "polite," it's "private," we don't want to dump our burdens on others, yada yada. And yet that's exactly what Paul is doing here -- he wants to make it very clear that what they're going through is downright terrible. He's not sanitizing their situation; he's not being private; he's not going on his merry way. He's bringing them into his life, his situation, so they will know with certainty what is really going on, so they can support each other through prayer. This is rather contrary to how we operate in most of our relationships today.

But Paul sees a reason for their suffering -- it's not random, not for nothing. "But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." They cannot control what's going on; they cannot fix the situation themselves. Their only recourse is to rely solely on God. If it was just a matter of a neighbor slapping graffiti on their worship space, then they could handle that. If it was just a matter of a few pieces of hate-mail, then they could handle that. But it's not -- it's so much more. So much so that at times they even fear for their lives. But Paul says it has to be that bad; there has to be that much darkness; it has to be "far beyond our ability to endure" -- because it's showing them that their efforts of "handling it" are nothing, are pointless. God, and only God, can deliver them, this God who can raise the dead.

There are three words in the last verse that really spoke to me, that gently handed me that reminder that I so desperately need to cling to on our own valley-walk. "He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us" --

"He has delivered us ..." -- God has done it in the past. He has been completely faithful in caring, providing, saving, delivering. He has a perfect track-record, without fault, without let-downs.

"He will deliver us ..." -- This time will be no different. What makes me think it might be? What makes me harbor fear in my heart, that God won't come through for us this time? That things will just keep getting worse? I'm ignore that word: "will." I've been on the soaring mountaintops; I've been in the deep valleys. This time is just another valley -- sure, it's a scary one, a hard one, a painful one ... but God will ...

"He will continue to deliver us ..." -- And God will continue to do it, again and again and again. He isn't going anywhere; He will continue to stay by my side. That is a promise that will always be kept.

What a cool verse. I can't tell you how many times I've read Corinthians, and yet this time -- once again -- my eyes have been opened to it in a new way. Thank you, Lord, for giving me the grace to really see, for bolstering me through your Word, through friends, through moments of peace and transcendence. I confess my faith is weak, my faith falters when the path causes me to stumble. Thank you for those words -- You have, You will, and You will continue.

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