2 Corinthians 1:8-10 NASB 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; [9] indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; [10] who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us,
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you just weren’t sure if you could “take it” anymore? The truth is, it was never yours to take. Paul, in these verses, describes a time in his life when he found himself so excessively burdened that it was beyond his strength to deal with it. It was so bad that he thought he might die. In verse 9, Paul said that he came to realize in that situation that he and the team that was with him had a “sentence of death” within them. He did not say that they had a sentence of death on them, but it was something that God was trying to put to death in them. The thing that God was trying to kill in them was “self-dependence.” God was teaching them in a deeper way to Trust Him. Even though the situation was beyond Paul’s strength to deal with, it wasn’t beyond God’s strength, and Paul was learning that man’s extremities are God’s opportunities. Every one of us, as “believers,” are on this journey of learning how to believe. The school of Christ involves a sentence of death within us that is usually carried out by our being allowed to walk through situations that are way over our heads so that we discover at new levels that everything that threatens to be over our heads is already under His feet. The Christian life is a life of faith, and faith can best be defined by the word “trust.” Those moments in our life that liberate us more from any form of self-reliance are a great gift from God because the result will be that it will be on God alone that we set our hope and in whose ability we trust.