End of the Rope

I read these words penned by apostle Paul this morning:

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...  2 Corinthians 1:8-9

His message is brimming with bad news. 

Affliction.

Burdened excessively.

Burdened beyond our strength to bear.

Despair.

Despaired even of life.

We had the sentence of death within ourselves....

Later he mentions 'great peril of death'.

As much as I want my life to be smooth and easy, a quiet walk in the park with gentle breeze cooling my face, the reality is that there are days when things look bleak, even hopeless.  Just as they did for Paul here. Things looked bleak. Things looked hopeless. Paul is hanging on the last tattered thread at the end of his rope.

Note, it's his rope.

Sooner or later, we all come to the end of ourselves. Our resources. Our wisdom. Our ability to figure things out and make life work.

We hit a wall. It feels like it's the end of the world.

In fact, I want it to be the end of the world.

But it's not.

The sun is still up in the morning. People go to work, mow their lawns and prune crape myrtles. Cook dinner and then... eat it!

I marvel at the cosmic outrage, for when I hang by the last tattered thread of the end of my rope, I feel like the earth should stop spinning on its axis.

But, God has a better plan.

It's hard to comprehend that my excellent plan wasn't good enough.

It's hard to visualize that anything good can come out of so much bad.

But, there is a design behind all this, a divine intent.

So that...

In order that...?

We would not trust in ourselves... 2 Corinthians 1:9

This is Paul, the brilliant, the eloquent, God’s super-missionary, speaking, telling us he had to go through hell in order to learn…that we should not trust ourselves... 

Not trust ourselves.

But in God... 

...who raises the dead. 2 Corinthians 1:9

Period. 

Personally, I don’t want to go through hell to learn this lesson, but odds are clearly stacked in God's favor here. I never raised anybody from the dead and I don't anticipate doing it any time soon.

Afflicted? Despairing? Hopeless?

I'll start my checklist first with who do I trust?