“For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God Who raises the dead…on Him we have set our hope that He will deliver us again” – 2 Corinthians 1:8-10

HAVE WE EVER been there, where we despair of life itself? Even the greatest of all apostles reached so low.

Is it not contrary to walking in victory when the Christian feels utterly spent and weak in and of them self? Trials, yes, but surely not to the point where we are driven beyond our wits end? Indeed such exist for those who are venturing towards the Heavenly City – “Through much tribulation do we enter the kingdom of God.”

Here is a word, not for the self-confident Christian, the Christian who has it altogether, the Christian whose life is filled with prosperity, the Christian who encounters no genuine warfare – the word is for those who desire to follow Christ, those who have denied self to know Christ, those who have discovered they are weak in themselves and those who have left the shallow waters to venture out beyond their depths for Christ’s name and glory.

Those who truly make known to God the desire to know Him in this generation will encounter the removal of all human reliance and all other hopes until we see nothing but Himself and sometimes it has to get very dark before we recognise none but Jesus alone. God wants us to be so confident in Him that fear’s or doubt’s loudest shouts will not perturb us.

Have you ever noticed that with each trial God has brought you through, you may have questioned, in the midst of it, whether God will deliver you? Always remember that God never finds it arduous to set any one of us free, no matter what the predicament. Your present situation may seem beyond repair, but God says, “I will restore the years that the locusts [or what seems like death itself] have eaten.” Christ said “I am the resurrection”; He is the One who can also restore to life what has been counted long-dead in your own mind; He is the one Who is more than able to turn around your wilderness to blessedness; your tears to joy; your mourning to dancing; your ashes to beauty. No matter how theologically clever we may feel we are, we dare not limit God to what He can do. God is infinitely greater than all our theology combined over the last two millennia. Church history is God’s ongoing story; it is His-story and many chapters remain to be written.

God will deliver again, “Through many dangers, toils and snares” – but how that deliverance comes is not always for us to foresee, but the way in which it does and will come is overwhelmingly incredible. It is not only what God does but how He performs His wonders that leave the greatest impression on our hearts.

One of the most beautiful aromas to God is when a child of His can say, “At any cost and by any road, Lord, let me know You” – even in the midst of anguish, God’s child will not turn back from the adversity endured that brings Him glory. In the midst of the darkest storm, the Christian may lose their bearings and lose sight of the promises of God; they may not shine so bright in some tempests and you might question their validity of them for yourself; God seems ever so distant and instead of His smiles, you sense His frowns. I think one of the blackest times, within trials, for any child of God is when the sense of salvation’s assurance is lost; all seems to be against them – even God – and where to cast their anchor seems but a vain venture; the desperate attempt to find solidity beneath their feet exhausts them all the more.

You all remember that passage in Acts 27 where Paul sailed for Rome under the custody of Roman soldiers and how a violent storm broke out – “When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned” – I’m sure they were valiant for some days, but the continual lashings and tossing of those tempestuous waves dwindled down their optimism bit by bit until all hope of being saved “was at last abandoned.” They resigned themselves to death itself. It took an angel of God to raise Paul up from his despondent state, a condition where he was afraid (verse 24) and this bears resemblance to when in another situation, Paul stated he was (as with others accompanying him) so utterly burdened beyond his strength, he despaired of life itself, feeling that he received the sentence of death. That is rock-bottom, friends and God does permit such horrendous times, but look at what Paul says further on in the passage: “But that [being driven beyond their wits end] was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God Who raises the dead…on Him we have set our hope that He will deliver us again” – that is it, this is what God is after in our lives: to fix our hope on Him even when situations look utterly dead and impossible. He is the God of hope; only in HIM is our hope to be found; only in HIM is our hope to rest. Even when we lose sight of the stars of hope for the thick dark clouds, God remains the God of all hope; how He graciously lifts up our heads to restore our faith and says, “Do not be afraid, be of good cheer, for I am with you in the storm and will never let go of you; I am working in you to perfection what I promised before the foundation the world.”

God has promised and what He has said He will perform that He will do. It is fixing our hope on the God of those promises, believing that He will deliver us out of all our troubles and yet oftentimes such deliverance comes through enduring the road that God calls us to walk. Oh, let us bring a smile to God’s face this day and trust Him implicitly anew for the wonders He is yet to perform.

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

(Hymn by William Cowper)