In the Word: Despairing of Life
Welcome to Hope Mommies In the Word devotionals. Over the next several weeks, we will be meditating on 2 Corinthians 1:3-11. As we study the truths found in these verses together, we’d love you to use the comments as a place to dialogue with us about what you are learning and share your answers to the questions below. We pray that you hearts will be encouraged as you dig into God’s Word each week with us!
“For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia.
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.“
2 Corinthians 1:8-9a
READ:
Throughout the years, I have walked through seasons of suffering when the presence of Christ in my life was beautifully tangible. The nearness of the Lord infused my pain with hope and peace. But there are also seasons of suffering when the darkness seems impenetrable and God just feels so far away.
Hearing the news that two of my precious children would not be born to life on earth was excruciating. Watching my living children struggle to make sense of all the brokenness in this sin-cursed world is devastating. Walking alongside my husband as he lives with the reality of a severe degenerative brain disorder is terrifying and exhausting. Some griefs in life just seem to burden us beyond what we could ever possibly bear. No matter how hard I fight for truth, despair slowly seeps into my heart.
The apostle Paul was no stranger to such suffering. In 2 Corinthians, we learn of a time when he and Timothy experienced such great affliction that they despaired of life itself. Their situation seemed utterly hopeless. And yet, despite the enormous hardship they endured, they did not stop turning to the Lord. Rather, their suffering was the means to drive them to a deeper reliance on God.
In God’s serve mercy towards me, he continually brings me to end of myself so that I have nowhere to turn but to Him. I can’t move forward without His strength. When my circumstances tempt me to despair, I must fix my eyes on the One who will make an end to all my suffering. He is worthy of my trust and deserving of all my hope.
Dear sisters, let your sorrow drive you towards hope rather than despair. When all seems lost, hide yourself in the Lord. Run to Him. Lift up your eyes. One day He will turn this mourning into dancing. One day this cloud of darkness will lift and we will bask forevermore in the light of His glory. One day we will see Him face to face.
REFLECT:
- What does 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 teach us about the hardships of those who are in Christ?
- Read 2 Corinthians 4:16–18. How do these verses encourage you to look to the Lord in your suffering?
- Ashlee
Hope Mom to Simeon and Odelle
Ashlee is the Editorial Coordinator for Hope Mommies and author of their I AM, Identity, and Sojourn Bible studies. She and her husband, Jesse, live in Milwaukee with their children—five on earth and two in heaven.
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