READ: 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 NLT
'We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead.'
We all experience hard times. They are an unavoidable part of life. It may be a sudden illness, a road accident, a broken relationship or a hard time at work. No-one is immune. Paul certainly didn’t manage to avoid hard times and is very honest about them, as we see in this passage.
The question is what do you do with hard times? We don’t know exactly what Paul is describing but he was clearly staring death in the face. He may be referring to one of the occasions when he was faced with physical violence, although some Bible scholars think that it refers to illness. Whatever it was , the result of this experience was that he learnt to rely on God more. The experiences could have crushed him, but he turned to God and allowed his Heavenly Father to pour his strength and courage into him.
Facing hard times is always difficult and unpleasant but as we keep our eyes fixed on God, he is able to use even the harshest times to strengthen us. The outcome for Paul was that his experiences had made him stronger in his ministry. He certainly needed to be particularly strong as he faced the challenges posed by the church in Corinth, as we see in the letter that follows.
When we learn to place our full reliance on God we can look to the future, whatever it holds, with great confidence. Not a confidence in ourselves because, like Paul, we are more than aware of our own frailty. But a confidence in God who will be there even on the darkest days, equipping us and strengthening us. And remember that we are dealing with a God who raises the dead. Nothing is beyond him!
QUESTION: What have you learnt about God from the tough times that you have experienced?
PRAYER: Thank you loving Lord that you never leave my side and that I can therefore look to the future with confidence. Amen.

Released on 10 Dec 2020