Persecuted But Not Forsaken
2 Corinthians
4:8-10
8
We are troubled on every side,
yet not distressed; we are
perplexed, but not in despair; 9
Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the
dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in
our body.
Many years ago I wrote this of this passage:
In this passage I see, in my minds eye, a Christian.
He stands wearing the whole armor of God, and in his hand is the sword of
God's Word. There he is loudly,
clearly and shamelessly proclaiming the life giving Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Looming over him is a large bolstering cloud.
It is very dark and spans the expanse of the sky.
It rolls and rumbles with activity as its side's sink down to enshroud
the God honoring saint. There is
nothing the cloud would like more than to descend upon the meager mortal and
snuff his life out in the chaos of evil. For you see this cloud represents the
spiritual forces of evil.
Hence this Christian is troubled on every side, as Satan and his cohorts strive
to press in upon the God fearing individual.
However, this saint is never distressed for the looming forces of evil
find it impossible to thoroughly isolate this saint; for a pillar of light
breaks through the cloud, providing the saint with direct access to God.
Yet, the horde will never give up as they strive to perplex this child of
God by shrouding his resources hoping to cause him to doubt his strength and
stay. But as long as his sword is
in his hand and his brethren are by his side he knows he always has hope.
They persecute him severely causing him to often stumble, yet he knows that he
is never forsaken and will never be utterly destroyed by this spiritual enemy.
For he knows that as long as he resists the devil he must flee, and as
long as he draws nigh unto God, God will draw nigh unto him.
I recall writing this after I had completed a diligent word
study of the passage. It is a
mental picture of the spiritual struggle always present in our Christian
Journey. Our adversary, the Devil
and his cohorts (demons) are constantly, relentlessly attacking us mentally,
spiritually, and physically. Their
goal is to bring enough discouragement and disillusionment into our lives to
destroy us or at least render us useless in our Lord’s Kingdom.
However, the eternal truth of the Word of God reminds us that our
spiritual enemies can never win as long as Almighty God is on our side, and He
is and ever will be on our side.
Perhaps your spiritual warfare has worn on you a bit. The relentlessness of our spiritual foes tends to wear us down. The circumstances that surround our lives often seem to fuel their evil fire and sap our physical and emotional strength. What should you do when you become weary in life’s battles? Fall back into the stronghold of our Lord Jesus Christ and His never yielding strength. He is present, right there with you, all about you, right in the midst of the battle. He was, is, and ever shall be our victory.
CrossRoads Email Nov 6 2006
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