2 Corinthians 1:10

2 Corinthians 1:10

"And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us."
NLT

Dear JoAnn,

Often when we are walking in the midst of a suffering, we may believe that God will rescue us, but it's still difficult to fully trust Him. As we read the verse above, it's almost like God knew we would struggle to trust Him and so He makes sure to emphasize His ability to rescue. In 2 Corinthians 1:10 Paul writes of rescue three times:

Did rescue
Will rescue
Will continue to rescue

You see friend, God's plan is not to leave us in the middle of pain and hardship forever. He won't allow us to walk into a dark valley and then leave us there to wander aimlessly without end. The truth is, HE WILL RESCUE. In fact, even if we were to walk in suffering the rest of our lives, we can know as a follower of Christ... He will rescue when He comes again. When we realize this, we don't really need to know why He is doing it, but only that we can trust He is in control and will be with us until the end. Whatever door He opens or whatever door He closes, we can trust Him. He is good... all the time.

Life Lesson: Our faith is really growing when we don't know what God is doing, and we still trust Him.

Dear God,
Thank You for Your love that is so great, that you would rescue me in my times of need. I also thank You for also using my hard times for my benefit. Help me not to despair in difficult times but rather to rejoice because I know that my rescue is on the way. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Living to tell what He died to say,
Pastor David McGee

My Comments: Today at Calvary Chapel there was a man from Voice of the Martyrs who talked about this very issue. He showed many who were persecuted for the name of Jesus and the Gospel of Jesus. Many who were left for dead who came back to witness to the same people who tried to kill them and who did atrocities to them. These stories were from many places in the world, North Korea, China, Colombia and many African places as well as even places in Europe and America. It will get worse here the closer to Christ's return and we must be strong in Him, His strength and His grace to love those who persecute us, to pray for them and to witness to them and others and to never deny Jesus or the Gospel.

My trials seemed so small in comparison to the horror stories related and even some videos that were shown of the things done.

One time when I was in fifth grade the second week of class I took ill and when I came back to class the classmates who had all been so friendly would now not talk with or look me in the eye. I could not understand yet I had a peace. I had always known God and knew Him to be my protector (after all He had saved my Dad often, had cured me of polio, saved me after many raped and molestations so He could take care of this situation). During the math period towards the middle of the morning, while the teacher who had her back to the class, a boy (I think his name was Lawrence but I do not truly remember) passed me a note from behind me. He stated the teacher had told them if anyone talked to me for the rest of the year they would not pass on to sixth grade. He apologized and I knew he felt badly.

Later at recess I went out on the grounds and since no one would talk or play with me (it seemed to have spread to the rest of the school children because I was not allowed into the games though one person did let me into the four square game and one boy threw the ball at my chest so hard I thought I would die. So then I was not let back in. I wandered over to a girl in the far left corner of the playground who was sitting with her head down and swinging her feet front to back and in circles on the bench. She had shinny red hair and her cloths though clean had patches on them. She was sitting in the shade of the huge oak tree.

I sat down and we started talking and I told her what had happened and she told me they would not play with her because of her cloths so of course we became fast friends and we together for the rest of the year. I know if my teacher had not done what she did I would never had met Penny and she was a wonderful friends.

See it was a small thing compared to the suffering of those in other places who are persecuted for righteousness sake yet from the things that happened to me and my loved ones and the way the Lord brought us through them I know to trust Him in all things. Over the years since my conversion He has strengthened me in this. May He give you the strength to trust Him in all things and study His word so when these times are upon you, you may have His word for comfort and added strength. Amen