Dr. Hood is on vacation.
This is a repeat of a meditation from his first book,
Heart & Soul, Meditations to Encourage the Heart & Refresh the Soul
“It certainly seemed to us as if we had
gotten the death penalty.
This was so that we would have confidence in
God, who raises the dead, instead of ourselves.”
2
Corinthians 1:9 (Common English Bible)
It is not
unusual to experience, from time to time, a situation that seems completely
hopeless. Perhaps a relationship has not developed as we had wished, or our
career seems to have stalled, or a chronic illness is beating us down and there
is no indication that anything is going to improve. Prayers are offered and
patiently – very patiently – we have waited on the Lord. Yet, nothing changes.
Paul tells us that in these moments of our life, we feel as though we have
received the sentence of death. All that is left is despair.
Speaking to
these moments, Paul tells the church that there is an alternative: we can rely
on God. Paul is not here suggesting more prayers or more patience. We may have
given sufficient attention to both. What Paul is saying is that God’s
preference for us may be resurrection, which can only follow a death. The death
of a poor relationship opens the possibility of a new one. A stalled career may
indicate God’s call to a new vocation. Even a chronic illness that never
improves opens the door to a whole new relationship with God, one dependent
upon God’s grace, not health, to celebrate life.
God is in the
resurrection business. Yet, for God to work a resurrection, we may have to release
that which we hold so tenaciously to; to let it die. It is then that we receive
something so much better than what we were afraid of losing.
This doesn’t
mean we should never struggle to prevent loss, or that we can’t experience
grief over something we once held dear. It does mean that we don’t give in to
hopeless like those who don’t know God. For if we must finally let go, we know
that we can rely on God, the one who raises the dead.
Joy,
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