The Truest Kindness in the World: 2 Corinthians 1:8-11

 

The Truest Kindness in the World

2 Corinthians 1:8-11

The God who raises the dead and who delivered Paul from such a deadly peril is responsive to prayer.

Paul Barnett

Have you or a loved one ever been in a situation that brought you to the end of what you knew you could bear? Have you ever been stretched so far that you felt you would break? Have you ever wished you had unlimited resources to assist someone in need or take care of your own seemingly insurmountable troubles? Last time we saw that for the believer there is comfort for every sorrow. In Christ, all and every one of our afflictions will be met with the comfort, consolation, and encouragement of God, and this comfort we receive is not just for ourselves but is for the comfort of other believers. Now we will see Paul give the Corinthians an example of how God comforted him and his companions in their trouble, which had caused them to despair even of life itself, and how the Corinthians played a role in the accomplishing of that comfort. 

For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us, you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many (2 Corinthians 1:8-11).

    We do not know exactly what this affliction was that Paul and his friends endured in Asia. What we do know is this affliction they experienced burdened them beyond their strength. This affliction surpassed their ability to bear it. And so far beyond their strength, that it caused them to “despair even of life.” This word “despaired” “implies the total unavailability of an exit from oppressive circumstances.” Many times this is what affliction makes evident: the limit to our own ability, the limit to our own strength, the limit to our capacity to endure, the realization that there seems to be no exit from the present circumstances. But it should remind us, as it did Paul, that there is nothing beyond God’s strength. These are key moments in our lives to help us reorient our focus off of ourselves and onto God. As Paul and his companions learned through this affliction that they must rely on God, so we too learn to trust the Lord in those times of our utter inability to accomplish things for ourselves or our loved ones. 

    Yet while we may feel helpless, unable to work any solution for our problems or for the problems of those we love, this text shows us that we actually can offer the most help when we join God in His work through our prayers. Paul describes God in these verses as One who raises the dead, the One who has delivered them in the past and will again deliver them. Paul was fully persuaded of the ability and strength of God to do the impossible for them, but Paul also recognized that the Corinthians could help bring about his deliverance through their prayers, “And He will yet deliver us, you also joining in helping us through your prayers” (2 Corinthians 1:11). Paul ends this section by repeating again that the favor bestowed upon them by God was “through the prayers of many.” “It is no accident that the references to God’s deliverance of Paul and to prayer are placed side by side. The God who raises the dead (verse 9) and who delivered Paul from such a deadly peril is responsive to prayer”(Barnett). Paul and his friends’ deliverance was from God through prayer. The instrument that God used to bring about Paul’s rescue was through the prayers of other believers. Does this mean God NEEDS our prayers? No, however, God chooses to use the prayers of His people to accomplish His will. He commands us to pray, and He knows that our prayers help to bring about His purposes. God is not dependent on us to pray, but He does use our prayers to help others. Spurgeon said, “No man can do me a truer kindness in this world than to pray for me.” When those we love, or even we ourselves, are facing circumstances which cause us to throw up our hands in hopelessness, let us remember, that we can join with God by simply offering trust-filled prayer to Him whose power is unrestrained.

    

    We’re on a mission of joy in 2 Corinthians. We can have joy and rejoice that our Father of mercies and God of all comfort is also the God who raises the dead and gives us the privilege of joining with Him in His work by casting our cares on Him in prayer. Truly there is joy in knowing that another’s deliverance or our own is not dependent on us but on Him upon whom we rely in prayer. Let us always offer prayer with joy (Philippians 1:4) knowing this is the truest kindness we can do for another, as we set our hope in Him, the One who will deliver.

Photo credit to martinsanchez