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Strength in Suffering

2 Corinthians 1:3-11

Paul references his own circumstances in this passage, calling them "afflictions," "troubles," and "sufferings." To what could he be referring? Although the text does not make it clear, we have enough scriptural evidence to make some suggestions. As we look ahead to 2 Corinthians 11:24, 25, we learn that Paul was whipped and beaten multiple times. Surely that qualifies as suffering! But the most likely culprit would be a recurring sickness or similar malady that beleaguered him on a regular basis. In verse 10, Paul says of God that He is the one "who delivered us from so great a death," which is an allusion to the Greek translation of Job 33:30, "He has delivered my soul from death." Consider Job's afflictions alongside Paul's statement in verses 9 and 10 that he had "the sentence of death" within himself and the hope that God would deliver. In this is a picture, not of suffering or affliction endured in the past, but of ongoing endurance in the face of present suffering.

What a model for us to lean on the God who will deliver! There can be no affliction, illness, or persecution so great that God cannot give His children the strength to endure and the hope for deliverance!

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