Have you ever felt completely overwhelmed by life?

As you were drowning in your specific troubles, did you ask how a loving Heavenly Father could allow you to go through that?

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul reflected on suffering—both his own and the Corinthians’—and God’s reasons for allowing it.

In the previous verses (be sure to read them!), Paul argued that God comforts us in our affliction so that we can comfort others with the same comfort we’ve received. What does that mean? Typically, you’re apathetic or indifferent to other people’s suffering. But going through a particular kind of adversity can create a special area of sympathy for people suffering from the same problem. That sympathy can then motivate you to do something about the suffering around you. That’s one reason God comforts us in suffering, rather than save us from it (for more, see here).

But as Paul went on to write, God has other reasons to allow His people to suffer:

If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer (2 Cor 1:6).

Paul knew what it meant to be under enough pressure to crack. He was severely persecuted by both the Romans and the Jews. He had been whipped, imprisoned, stoned, and shipwrecked. He had suffered attacks against his character and ministry. He had been deserted and betrayed by people he trusted. He knew distress. But he also knew the Lord’s comforts, which meant he could comfort other suffering Christians. And as they experienced that comfort in affliction for themselves, they would learn to endure it patiently. God’s comfort would help them endure it. That’s probably not a lesson that you want to learn! I’d rather be comfortable. God is, apparently, not very interested in giving us a comfortable life.

And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort (v 7).

What Paul says here illustrates something about creation—at least creation as it currently exists. Some people think that God can use His power to remove suffering from the world. But it may not be the kind of problem that is resolved by sheer power. There seem to be positive experiences that you can’t have without the possibility of suffering from negative experiences. For example, you can’t develop courage without facing your fear of danger. Or you can’t show charity without needy people to receive it. And in this verse, you can’t experience God’s comfort, if you didn’t experience affliction.

Paul wanted the Corinthians to understand how badly he had suffered because he had an important point to make:

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death… (vv 8-9a)

Paul doesn’t say what, exactly, he went through in Asia, but whatever it was, he felt like it was more than he could bear. It felt like a death sentence. Have you ever felt like your suffering was so overwhelming you were going to die? “Just take me home, Lord,” is something I’ve prayed many times. Maybe you’ve felt the same way. What is especially disorienting about such trouble is realizing how weak and small we are. We have these illusions of being in control of our own destiny when life happens, and it reminds us how easily our lives can be snuffed out and that we’re at the mercy of a merciless world. Why does God allow us to go to such extremes of despair? Here’s Paul’s answer…

…But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead (v 9b).

If God allows you to feel overwhelmed beyond what you can bear, it’s so that you’ll no longer trust in your strength to bear it. If God allows you to feel overwhelmed to the point of death, it’s so that you’ll finally learn to turn away from yourself and trust in the One who raised Jesus from the dead. And when you come to the point of no longer being able to trust the world, you can finally throw yourself upon the mercy and goodness of God. Paul learned to rely upon God like that and found that the Lord delivered:

He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many (vv 10-11).

God rescued Paul in Asia. Then, another crisis came, and God showed up again. And then again. And again. Paul’s faith grew from these experiences of deliverance: “He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again” (emphasis added). That’s a promise! Paul learned to put his hope in the Deliverer: “On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.” And he wouldn’t have developed that hope without going through affliction and experiencing God’s deliverance for himself.

When life seems unbearable, all hope is lost, and you’re about to die, remember this: the God who raises the dead is with you in your affliction. Turn away from yourself and rely on Him. He will deliver you! Believe it!

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Send your questions or comments to shawn@freegrace.in.

Read his latest book, The Myth of Tithing and the Joy of Grace Giving by getting it from us or from Amazon.