Taking a Closer Look at 2 Corinthians 1:8–11
Paul wants us to understand that his suffering had a purpose, and that was to trust Jesus Christ and his ability to raise the dead. It was to demonstrate his reliance upon the power of God.
Suffering and Scripture
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:8, “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia.”
To be honest, we don’t know exactly what Paul’s affliction was. Scholars deliberate and aren’t certain. But what we know is that Paul had an uncanny knack for always getting himself into trouble. As he served the Lord, suffering always came his way. What we find in verses eight and nine is that Paul explains a little bit more about his affliction. He says, “For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death.”
One of the things I love about the apostle Paul’s writings is how vulnerable and transparent he is. In fact, 2 Corinthians is Paul’s most personal and vulnerable letter. He shares about deep hurts he experienced from the Corinthian church, the very church that he planted. He led the Corinthians to faith in Christ and then he discipled them for 18 months before handing the church over to Apollos. He experienced all kinds of suffering from within and without.
But here he says that his suffering absolutely shattered him. He thought he would die. He experienced things that were so excruciatingly painful. And I love this because it shows us just how incredibly honest the apostle Paul is. He wants us to understand that he has experienced suffering in a way that is so intense that whatever we experience, he has gone before us.
And here’s the key. Many believers will say that God will never give us more than we can handle. They base this upon 1 Corinthians 10:13: that God is faithful and that when we are tempted, he will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. But that particular passage is talking about temptation. It’s not talking about suffering.
Here the apostle Paul says we will experience suffering that will be more than we can bear. In fact, the suffering that we experience in our lives could break us. But Paul gives us another purpose in verse nine. He says, “But that [the suffering] was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”
Paul wants us to understand that his suffering had a purpose, and that was to trust Jesus Christ and his ability to raise the dead. It was to demonstrate his reliance upon the power of God, and his suffering turned him towards Christ and ultimately towards Christ’s great power.
Verse ten explains further: “He delivered us [this is Christ] from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.” We see three uses of the word deliver in verse ten.
God can and will deliver us from all of our suffering—perhaps not in this life, but in the life to come.
So while it’s true that we will experience suffering that is more than we can handle, we will not experience suffering that is more than God can handle. God can and will deliver us from all of our suffering—perhaps not in this life, but in the life to come.
We can trust in God and in the Lord Jesus Christ to walk with us through all of our suffering. But we don’t suffer alone. The good news is that we have brothers and sisters in Christ who will pray for us.
Paul writes, “You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.” In the midst of suffering, we need other believers to pray for us. We need a prayer shield, if you will. We need brothers who will come alongside us and bear our burdens and walk with us in the midst of our suffering.
The good news is Paul is clear that God will give us more than we can handle, but that is to turn us to him so that we would trust in him who can raise the dead. And he reminds us that while he will give us more than we can handle, he will not give us more than he can handle. We have the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father, and we also have brothers and sisters in Christ who will support us in prayer.
Keith R. Krell is coauthor with Kenneth Berding of God’s Purposes in Our Pain: 10 Ways God Uses Suffering for Our Good.
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