A 4th of July visitor Good Morning
2 Corinthians 4:7-10
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the excellency of the power may be of God,
and not of us.
We are troubled on every side,
yet not distressed;
we are perplexed,
but not in despair;
Persecuted,
but not forsaken;
cast down,
but not destroyed;
Always bearing about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus
might be made manifest in our body.
There is a prevalent idea that the power of God in a human life should lift us above all trials and conflicts. The fact is, the power of God always brings a conflict and a struggle. One would have thought that on his great missionary journey to Rome, Paul would have been carried by some mighty providence above the power of storms and tempests and enemies, But, on the contrary, it was one long, hard fight with persecuting Jews, with wild tempests, with venomous vipers and all the powers of earth and hell, and at last he was saved, as it seemed, by the narrowest margin, and had to swim ashore at Malta on a piece of wreckage and barely escape a watery grave.
Was that like a God of infinite power?
Ye, just like Him. And so Paul tells us that when he took the Lord Jesus Christ as the life of his body, a severe conflict immediately come; indeed, a conflict that never ended, a pressure that was persistent, but out of which he always emerged victorious through the strength of Jesus Christ.
The language in which he describes this is most graphic.
“We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.”
What a ceaseless, strenuous struggle! It is impossible to express in English the forcible language of the original. There are five pictures in succession. In the first, the idea is crowding enemies pressing in from every side, and yet not crushing him because the police of heaven cleared the way just wide enough for him to get through. The literal translation would be, “We are crowed on every side, but not crushed.”
The second picture is that of one whose way seems utterly closed and yet he has pressed through; there is light enough to show him the next step. The Revised Version translates it “Perplexed but not unto despair.” Rotherham still more literally renders it, “Without a way, but not without a by-way.”
The third figure is that of an enemy in hot pursuit while the divine Defender still stands by, and he is not left alone. Again we adopt the fine rendering of Rotherham, “Pursued but not abandoned.”
The fourth figure is still more vivid and dramatic. The enemy has overtaken him, has struck him, has knocked him down. But it is not a fatal blow; he is able to rise again. It might be translated, “Overthrown but not overcome”.
Once more the figure advances, and now it seems to be even death itself, “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.” But he does not die, for the “life also of Jesus” now come to his aid and he lives in the life of another until his life work is done.
. . . God has nothing worth having that is easy. There are no cheap goods in the heavenly market. Our redemption cost all that God had to give, and everything worth having is expensive. Hard places are the very school of faith and character, and if we are to rise over mere human strength and prove the power of life divine in these mortal bodies, it must be through a process of conflict that may well be called the birth travail of a new life. It is the old figure of the bush that burned, but was not consumed, or of the Vision in the house of the Interpreter of the flame that would not expire, notwithstanding the fact that the demon ceaselessly poured water on it, because in the background stood an angel ever pouring oil and keeping the flame aglow.
No, dear suffering child of God, you cannot fail if only you dare to believe, to stand fast and refuse to be overcome.–Tract
Dare to Believe . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie
Thoughts of Grace 
Sunday Bible Reading – Psalm 56
Psalm 56
To the chief Musician upon Jonathelemrechokim, Michtam of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath.
Be merciful unto me, O God:
for man would swallow me up;
he fighting daily oppresseth me.
Mine enemies would daily swallow me up:
for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.
(from Clarke’s Commentary:Most of the Versions begin the next verse with this word: “From the light of the day, though I fear, yet will I trust in thee.” From the time that persecution waxes hot against me, though I often am seized with fear, yet I am enabled to maintain my trust in thee. Dr. Kennicott thinks there is a corruption here, and proposes to read: “I look upwards all the day long.”)
What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust;
I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
Every day they wrest my words:
all their thoughts are against me for evil.
They gather themselves together, they hide themselves,
they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.
Shall they escape by iniquity?
in thine anger cast down the people, O God.
Thou tellest my wanderings:
put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
When I cry unto thee,
then shall mine enemies turn back:
this I know; for God is for me.
In God will I praise his word:
in the LORD will I praise his word.
In God have I put my trust:
I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.
Thy vows are upon me, O God:
I will render praises unto thee.
(from Clarke’s commentary: Thy vows are upon me – I have promised in the most solemn manner to be thy servant; to give my whole life to thee; and to offer for my preservation sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving.
Reader, what hast thou vowed to God? To renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful desires of the flesh; to keep God’s holy word and commandment, and to walk before him all the days of thy life. These things hast thou vowed; and these vows are upon thee. Wilt thou pay them?)
For thou hast delivered my soul from death:
wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling,
that I may walk before God in the light of the living?
(and again from Clarke’s: My feet from falling – Thou hast preserved me from taking any false way, and keepest me steady in my godly course; and so supportest me that I may continue to walk before thee in the light of the living, ever avoiding that which is evil, and moving towards that which is good; letting my light shine before men, that they may see my good works, and glorify my Father which is in heaven. To walk before God is to please him; the light of the living signifies the whole course of human life, with all its comforts and advantages.)
- Sunday Bible Reading
on July 6, 2014 at 4:32 am Leave a CommentTags: Clarke's Commentary, Coneflowers, Psalm 56, Sunday Bible Reading