Let's see what the Lord has to say to my heart today!
II Corinthians 1:3-4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of sympathy (pity and mercy) and the God [Who is the Source] of every comfort (consolation and encouragement),
4 Who comforts (consoles and encourages) us in every trouble (calamity and affliction), so that we may also be able to comfort (console and encourage) those who are in any kind of trouble or distress, with the comfort (consolation and encouragement) with which we ourselves are comforted (consoled and encouraged) by God.
Really Jesus? This is how we are starting today? Alrighty then. So I know Him to be so many different things in my life. He's my friend and my confidante, my Savior and my Redeemer, my constant and my consistent. He's my way maker and my access to the Father, my refuge and my strong tower, and my peace. He's so much to me but can I tell you He wasn't always those things? Who God is to me required me to let go of alot of what I thought I needed to have control over. It reqired me to be more vulnerable on my knees and alone with Him than I've been with any other audience. Its wasn't easy to get to where we are but can I tell you that doing the work to get here was absolutely worth it? This right here....I wouldn't take anything on Earth for my relationship with God. I can say that on really good days. On the not so good days....I still say it but its hard.
Let's talk about the not so good days. On not so good days, I still trust God but its hard. He's still good but that doesn't make it easy. When I think about the ways He's comforted me over the years....just in my everyday living and the people He's sent me, I know He's the source. There is no reason for the people in my life to care so deeply for me other than the fact that were sent to do so. When its a not so good day, I'm a huge fan of rest. I find rest in Psalms and in worship music. Worship music changes my whole situation. Not only does God speak to me through it but it also helps me get out of myself. If I can't handle my own life, I can usually handle talking about a perfect God.
I like this idea: God shows me a certain thing so I can show you.
Example: God shows me love so I can show you love. God forgives me so I can learn to forgive you. God has enduring mercy that I might show you mercy. God is patient with me that I might have patience with you.
This verse is talking about doing the same thing. I hope that my life does this. I pray it does. I've been told that it does and I so pray that He continue to grow that me.
II Corinthians 1:10
[For it is He] Who rescued and saved us from such a perilous death, and He will still rescue and save us; in and on Him we have set our hope (our joyful and confident expectation) that He will again deliver us [from danger and destruction and [c]draw us to Himself],
Paul is talking about a perilous experience in Asia but I want to liken this to perilous experiences in life. Have you ever know without a shadow of a doubt that God saved you from something? It doesn't have to be anything huge either. Has He ever told you to take a different way home the helped you avoid traffic? Has He ever steered you away from an argument? Had He ever taken you out of a situation that caused you pain? Has He ever put money in the pocket of the jeans you haven't worn in 3 months and you needed that money right then?
I can see in my life where the little things God did saved me. I can also see the huge things. I can see the moments that would have changed the trajectory of my life where He held onto me when I wasn't holding onto myself. I can see the moments where I wasn't and He was. I can see the moments when I didn't care and He did. I can see God's hand all over my life. I'm sitting in Maryland because He moved in my life.
This relationship, this thing me and God are doing, lets me relinquish the weight of being responsible. In Him, I hope. In Him, I believe. In Him, I trust. I know He'll show up and fix my situation because His track record demonstrates that He never leaves me or forsakes me. He is consistently consistent.
II Corinthians 1:12
It is a reason for pride and exultation to which our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world [generally] and especially toward you, with devout and pure motives and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God
Oh Lord that this could be true in my life. I know this hasn't always been true. I can see where it turned on a dime for me. When the Lord told me that this wasn't my desire alone but His promise to me, I cleaned up my act some. You know what else...the time when I needed to act not from flesh but a place reflecting relationship with God, the Bible kept talking to me about being upright and in right standing. The Lord was impressing upon my heart that He wanted certain behavior from me. I failed, as all humanity does, but I tried and I keep trying. I pray that my motives towards the girl I love are seen as sincere and pure. That is my intention but I know that intention has to come through me and me isn't all that great even when the Spirit in me is perfect.
More generally, I hope my motives towards all people are pure and upright but in this one situation, I actively pray I get this right.
II Corinthians 1:13
For we write you nothing else but simply what you can read and understand [there is no double meaning to what we say], and I hope that you will become thoroughly acquainted [with divine things] and know and understand [them] accurately and well to the end,
Listen....I'm notorious for this. Because I'm very verbose, I tend not to have double meanings. I endeavor to be very clear and if that means I'm going to have to send you a paragraph by text...then a paragraph you will get. I explain things....its kind of what they trained me to do in super scientist training school. I DO however realize that everyone isn't like this. I think the truth matters so I tend to make sure I've said all I need to say. As you can see....I'm also that way in my devotional ;-)
II Corinthians 1:17
Now because I changed my original plan, was I being unstable and capricious? Or what I plan, do I plan according to the flesh [like a worldly man], ready to say Yes, yes, [when it may mean] No, no?
I read this verse for the first time and immediately thought "PhD." I know many have seen my detour into creating knowledge as a change in the plan but I don't. I'm still going to be a physician. God didn't let that dream die in me but He renewed it while I was basically relaxing in graduate school. Do you understand what that means? While I was not setting an alarm and rolling in and out of the lab at leisure and traveling the world for free, God planted 8 more years of school in my heart so deeply that I had to give up my life of luxury AND then applied two cycles for med school and took the MCAT twice?!?!?! That isn't anything but a fire the Lord puts in you cause it wasn't me. Me likes sleep. Me likes living on purpose more.
Some have said I'm wishy washy or easily swayed because of the path I've walked down. As JT and I say.... I know for myself and that's enough for me.
II Corinthians 1:20
For as many as are the promises of God, they all find their Yes [answer] in Him [Christ]. For this reason we also utter the Amen (so be it) to God through Him [in His Person and by His agency] to the glory of God.
A yes from God is a yes. Has God ever told you something and you knew...you just knew that it was. When people ask me how I can be so sure....I remember that His word created the heavens and the earth. His word. I also know its in Him, not in me, so I'm going to let Him handle it.
I love this idea that I heard in a sermon. God stepped out on nothing and created everything right? So He said let there be light and what? There was light but not only was there light but there is light and there will be light. When the Bible says His Words and promises do not return void they mean forever. Until that Word is called back by the same power that called it, it is an shall be. When I think about my promises from God about who I am and who I will be, I struck by the fact that all I need to say is in return is yes and Amen. Its coming to pass. Even if I can't see it, its coming to pass. His word alone created the heavens and the Earth. His words.
II Corinthians 1:21
But it is God Who confirms and makes us steadfast and establishes us [in joint fellowship] with you in Christ, and has consecrated and anointed us [[f]enduing us with the gifts of the Holy Spirit];
Its God alone who makes me who I am.
It is in Him I find firm foundation.
It is on the Rock that I build my life.
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