Has God Ever Rescued You?

 

Has God ever rescued you from a terrible situation? A mental or physical illness?  From a hole so deep that you thought you'd never find your way out?  From a tangled mess?  Maybe friends or colleagues were maligning your good name?

I'm guessing that is where Paul of Tarsus found himself when he wrote his letter to the church in Corinth. The backstory of the church at Corinth is so tangled that I wouldn't know how to start explaining it, but suffice it to say there were fights and cancelled trips involved.  

Does Paul despair?  Nope.  He leans on the God who has rescued him before, his Lord and saviour, Jesus Christ. 

‭2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1 NRSV

13 But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—“I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and therefore we also speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and will present us with you in his presence. 15 Indeed, everything is for your sake, so that grace, when it has extended to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

16 So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 17 For our slight, momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, 18 because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen, for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

5 For we know that, if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

What else do we know about Paul?  We know that he had a physical illness of some sort, that he referred to as “the thorn in the flesh.”  He asked God three times to remove it, but God said, "No". (But that's a story for another day!)

As I tried to decipher the passage for this Sunday,  I went looking for the scripture referred to in 4:13.  It is Psalm 116, which is a Psalm of thanksgiving for recovery from illness.  It says in verse 10:

I kept my faith, even when I said,
    “I am greatly afflicted”

It is from this backstory and frame of mind that Paul writes this letter.  We’ll investigate all of this on Sunday when Flo Kim returns to speak to us.  I’m looking forward to it - Paul’s letters to churches can be so relevant for the church today.  His advice can also apply to us more personally.

Photo by Pascal van de Vendel on Unsplash