The Remedy to Despair

S - "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 NIV

O - The circumstances being faced by this group of the followers of Jesus was real, intense and literally life-threatening.  The remedy to this pressure wasn't found in a change of circumstance to more favorable conditions.  While such a change creates relief, it is a temporary reprieve. Once the situations shifts back to critical there goes the relief.  The remedy is in relying on a person … a person who is working everything for good; a person who is not hindered from anything he intends to do.  Not even death can prevent him.  Jesus lived every day of his life on earth in intentional reliance on his Father.  He wants all to live each day the exact same way. “God blesses those people who depend only on him. They belong to the kingdom of heaven!” Matthew 5:3

A -  The issue of whom one relies on is directly proportionate to the amount of pressure one experiences in life.  Self-reliance, the very thing the world (secular and religious) promotes as mature and required is the very thing which generates the pressures which rob our bodies of health, our minds of clear thought and our hearts of peace. An intentional shift is required. After three years of being with Jesus every day he would tell them, "Unless you change and become like this little child you will never belong to God's kingdom." I will choose to believe Jesus about earth and not just about heaven (John 3:11-12).  I will learn to live the peace, hope filled life of daily relying on him in and for everything.    

P - Lord,

I admit that you are completely reliable at all times and in all circumstances. I also admit that I've been trained and groomed for self-reliance … the source of crushing, intolerable pressures. I choose to be little, living in intentional reliance on you.

Unto the life that is really life,

Steve