This But Not That…

At the conference I attended this week I heard a great message from Mandy Smith of University Christian Church in Cincinnati that I wanted to share something from. In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul is recounting some of his struggles and yet how God has been faithful. We read this starting in verse 7: 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 

The reality of Paul’s situation is summarized by words like “hard pressed”, “perplexed”, “persecuted” and “struck down”. This is the situation Paull finds himself in. This is the reality of the situation. But, Paul has not seen hard pressed become “crushed” and so on. Why not? Because Paul experienced something or better yet, Someone, that we desperately need to experience. God was there for Paul. God turned Paul’s pain into something positive. We don’t have to go from struck down to destroyed. Struck down is going to happen…but destroyed doesn’t have to happen. When you are struck down, are you willing to look up to God and ask Him for His purpose and plan? When you are perplexed, it doesn’t have to become despair. God’s power is available to you. God allows the “this” but we don’t have to experience the “that” when we turn to Him.