Remember What God Does

Remember what God Does for You

He permits the trials to come

There are ten basic words for suffering in the Greek language, and Paul used five of them in this letter. The most frequently used word is thlipsis, which means “narrow, confined, under pressure,”

and in this letter is translated

“affliction” (2 Cor. 2:4; 4:17), “tribulation” (2 Cor. 1:4), and “trouble” (2 Cor. 1:4, 8).

Paul felt hemmed in by difficult circumstances, and the only way he could look was up. In 2 Corinthians 1:5–6, Paul used the word pathÍma, “suffering,” which was also used for the sufferings of our Savior (1 Peter 1:11; 5:1).

Some sufferings come because we are human Some we are subject to because we are God's people.

We must never think that trouble is an accident. For the believer, everything is a divine appointment. Warren Wiersbe says There are only three possible outlooks a person can take when it comes to the trials of life.

If our trials are the products of “fate” or “chance,” then our only recourse is to give up. Nobody can control fate or chance. If we have to control everything ourselves, then the situation is equally as hopeless. But if God is in control, and we trust Him, then we can overcome circumstances with His help.

He is in control of the trials v 8 God enables us to bear our trials v 9 God delivers us from our tirals v 10

Paul saw God’s hand of deliverance whether he looked back, around, or ahead. The word Paul used means “to help out of distress, to save and protect.” The verb "to deliver" denotes God's action to preserve or keep intact. The purpose of this near-death 59 experience, Paul states, was to substitute dependence on God for reliance on self (2 Corinthians 1:9). From <https://www.mywsb.com/4.v178/c.html> IVP

God does not always deliver us immediately, nor in the same way.

James was beheaded, yet Peter was delivered from prison (Acts 12).

Both were delivered, but in different ways.

Sometimes God delivers us from our trials, and at other times He delivers us in our trials.

God is glorified through our tirals v 11

When Paul reported what God had done for him, a great chorus of praise and thanksgiving went up from the saints to the throne of God. The highest service you and I can render on earth is to bring glory to God, and sometimes that service involves suffering. “The gift bestowed” refers to Paul’s deliverance from death, a wonderful gift indeed! Paul was never ashamed to ask Christians to pray for him. In at least seven of his letters, he mentioned his great need for prayer support (Rom. 15:30–32; Eph. 6:18–19; Phil. 1:19; Col. 4:3; 1 Thess. 5:25; 2 Thess. 3:1; Philem. 22). Paul and the believers in Corinth were helping each other (2 Cor. 1:11, 24).

Most of this information came from Warren Wiersbe