Polar Opposites (2)
we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NASB
Not despairing – How many negatives does it take to make a promise? Paul suggests that it takes at least three. Here the Greek is ouk exaporoumenoi. The first negative is ouk. It is “never the case.” So we start with, “This is never going to happen.” Then we come to exaporoumenoi. Now that word is made up of ex (“out of”) and aporeo, but aporeo also contains a negative (a). So we have the negative of location (“out of” rather than “in to”) and another negative countermanding the true verbal root (poreuomai – to remove), i.e., to not be removed. It’s a mouthful just to say, “You are never going to be in a place where you are utterly at a loss, where all hope has been removed.”
Now this sounds very good. I want to be assured that I will never be completely empty. But once again, Paul’s statement implies that I can be nearly empty. I can be at the point of running on fumes. God is not promising a full tank. He is promising that I won’t be stuck on the side of the road with no gas at all! In other words, I might be perplexed. The Greek is precisely that same word we just examined. It is aporeo, the root behind Paul’s construction, exaporoumenoi. In other words, I will be partially empty. I just won’t run completely dry.
This lesson is especially important for us today. We are surrounded by a religious culture that preaches “Peace, peace” where there is no peace. It might come in the form of prosperity or perfect health or business success or big membership or massive evangelism totals. But it is all based on the “full tank” expectation. In fact, in our world, if I am not getting all that God promised, then something is wrong. I need to pray more, tithe more, study more. After all, the assumption is that God wants me to have all my desires. The problem is that this view has to ignore Paul (and Yeshua, by the way). Paul’s view is not grabbing the golden circle. Paul’s view is enduring the rocky road. I am perplexed. I am puzzled, confused, disconcerted, floored, caught off balance. I just am not yet completely at an end.
Who told you that God provides all the answers to life? Who told you that trusting Him makes everything turn out the way you want it? Who told you God’s plan was wonderful and easy! Who told you that hardship, trials, difficulties and suffering were not God’s plan for you? Paul tells you that God guarantees you won’t run out of gas. He does not guarantee you will have a full tank in a new car.
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young sang, “And I don’t know who I am but life is for learning.” That’s about right, wouldn’t you say? Life is for learning – and learning is a painful process. “Endure,” says Paul. “You will not run out of gas on the way, even if the needle says EMPTY.” Three negatives guarantee it.
Topical Index: despairing, exaporoumenoi, aporeo, empty, perplexed, 2 Corinthians 4:8
Thank you for all of your powerful words but at this time in my life, this specific word was needed..thanks again!
This is a word we all need today because of the current political and financial condition of our government and the world governments. Our current lifestyle is treading on thin ice that could break thru and leave us devastated as we attempt to live our secular life. We need to cling to our creator more tightly than we have ever done, because our life with Christ is the only life that counts. Although, it is extreamly difficult to keep your focus on God when your life and the world is upside down. Pray as you have never prayed before that it is God’s will that we survive the current crisis in our country. Evil ideas and evil men are about to consume us.
“PRINCE OF PEACE”
Is this a typo?
“LIFE MORE ABUNDANTLY”
Is this a mis-quote?
“THE JOY OF THE LORD”
Did God mean something else?
The answers:
NO.
NO.
NO.
If we read the 2 verses before today’s scripture reading,
specifically 2 Cor 4:6-7, we see where Paul is going. Let’s look.
“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness,
who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure
in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God
and not of us.”
In this life, it’s not our power that believers are to key on. It’s His!
It’s not our mind we’re to trust. It’s His!
Bumps in the road? You bet. Paul’s ministry of his personal deliverence
gave evidence that Jesus is alive and is asking us to share in His sufferings
as a precursor to our also sharing in His eternal life. Our path is our obedience.
So knowing and living this “re-newed” life with His Holy Spirit within us
as our comforter and guide, puts a joy in our step, peace in our heart,
and an abundant assurance that we are directly and divinely in the hands
of the Master of Everything.
You are a “rich man,” Rich!!
The answer, dear friends, is “rejoice in the LORD- (when?) ALWAYS!!”
Huh? How is this possible? YOU don’t know my situation! You don’t know my circumstances! You don’t know the people I live with! Or the “things” I have to endure!- No. (I agree) No, I don’t. But God does!
Time once again for the banana cream pie (you prefer coconut?) in the face of… “but God..”
~ but God Who is RICH (Rich), in mercy…… ~ May I? Hallelujah! God IS rich in mercy.. “BUT” (that is one big but!) that is NOT (one big NOT!!) all…
Oh?? What else? Oh friends! Let us start a list, (Yes) write that down!
Rich in mercy, rich in love, rich in provision, rich in pardon, rich in His faithfulness, rich in “rewards,” rich in “shalom”, – in short (it’s about time!) God is Love!!
Joseph, (not your average Joe!) whether you are in a pit or a prison or a palace, God IS GOOD – (what?) ALL THE TIME!! Was God with Joseph in the pit of despair and despondency? Did God provide for Joe in the pit? (Did Josepi live “through” it?_ Yes! He did. Joseph, (praise God) was raised up from the pit, God delivered/saved him! But… (always sumthin’!) then what happened? From pit to Potiphar’s palace and then to prison! Our friend Joseph is being bounced around like a yo-yo! One day you’re up and the next you’re down!! What is God (attempting) to teach our man Joseph? Is the “prison” the end of Joe’s story? Nope. He goes (here is our favorite word- “through”) ~ Yea, (yes) though I walk “through” the valley of the shadow of death, YOU are “with me!” Yes, friends, God IS “with us!” Have we forgotten His Name? ( I have a bad feeling about this..) Yes, we have. His Name IS (what?) “Emmanuel!” God with us!
Was He “with” Joseph in prison? Did God give him favor (even while in prison?) Grace! Grace! Amazing Grace!! And.. (love it!) What is (in my best “Paul Harvey” voice..) the Rest of the Story?
Yea, though I walk through the pit
Yea, though I live in the prison..
Yes, thought I dwell in a palace!! – I will fear no evil…
WHY? (how can these things be?)
The very same Sovereign, saving God of Job and Jacob and of Joseph is the God whose very Name is Emmanuel, “God with us!”
~ I will (not) NEVER (ever) leave you, nor forsake you!! ~ His Name (remember?) is Faithful and True!!
Being a 24/7 caregiver for my 88 year old, bed-bound father is rough, to say the least. Doing things to/for/with your own father that certainly isn’t delineated in today’s “American Dream” manifesto is close to the bottom of the barrel as to being afflicted, crushed, feeling persecuted and struck down.
I’ve desperately prayed for it to somehow end; the possibilities in answer to this issue can be and are often outright appalling. When faced with which door to pick for a solution, each option seems either disgusting, frustrating, agonizing or just frightening. Do you put him in a ‘home’ where he will likely sit in his own excrement for most of the day? Do you go in to debt hiring someone to sit with him? Do you pray and wish for his quick death to put both him and us out of our misery? You end up thinking things that should only be made known in a…well, NO where, actually. You are pressed to think of things that no one should ever have to think about. It can be such a travesty. It IS a travesty often. Particularly in the wee hours of the morning having to get up out of a dead sleep (I’m kidding, there is no such thing as a good sleep anymore!) and tend to something to relieve or address something he is dealing with that can’t wait until morning.
Where the hell is God in all this? I’m certainly in hell if ever there is such a place. Go ahead, argue with me!
After wandering around this hellish place for any set time, one, depending on one’s make up and character, begins to take a new look at everything one thinks he knows about God. All those so called comforting verse and promises start to look a bit different. A deeper meaning must come out of them for anything to make any real sense.
Then you start to wonder if he is still alive to somehow teach ME something I need to know. Ok, now his pain and suffering is all about ME! How myopic of me. I can’t see past the tip of my own nose and I’m making judgement about an infinite God. How smart of me. Very intuitive.
Then nothing seems to fit in to any scheme or understanding I come up with. What to do? Well, you can certainly factor in the hundreds of millions of people all across the globe who live with this scenario from birth…in tiny dirt floored huts…with no running water for miles…in cold/hot environments with no relief in sight…with no medicine or doctors at all…sleeping on dirt or mud beds…amidst a criminal unsafe neighborhood…watching family and friends die daily with no hope…and on and on.
Me, on the other hand, reside in a fenced apartment community, among, for the most part, civilized people. I have heat, air conditioning, plenty of food (too much as I look down at my swelling belly), protection, a loving wife, plenty of clothes, a couple of cars for transportation, and on and on.
I take another look at some of those verses. They don’t make sense anymore. At least not in the old way of looking at them. When I look at them differently, they make all the sense in the world. Very clear. Very simple.
Ok. NOW what am I complaining about?
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
Hand me a diaper. He needs changing.
OH PRECIOUS MICHAEL,
What a gifted writer of real, everyday suffering you are… and a HERO in my book!!! (Your wife, too!) I wish I could be there for you. I would love to give you respite.
I want to discuss something in private but I don’t think we should give out our email addys here (for security reasons.) Could you please go to my website that is dedicated to those who suffer with chronic, debilitating illness (CAREGIVERS, TOO!) http://www.bittermansbanners.com. Then click on “contact us” and I’ll write back to the email you leave me.
Oh my Friend, take some time today, even if it’s just 10 minutes away from ALL demands, calm yourself, breathe in and out very slowly… and FEEL YHVH touching you. He’s there and He loves you… and since He is the essence of love, THAT’S … well… too amazing to describe.
Hi Michael:
My husband and I both lost our 89 year old fathers in 2012 – mine to a quick cancer death and his to long term pancreatitis/liver failure over a 6 year period. There needs were very different but a couple of places were very helpful. Hospice was wonderful in the last 6 months for my father-in-law and was paid for by Medicare. We had a visiting nutrition service for my father to help with Peg tube feedings and we were in the process of arranging some daily care when he passed. We were working with a local home agency for that with an ala carte type pricing for assistance with bathing and occasional respite care — most communities have at least one such agency. His greatest desire was to remain at home but that created some issues since my sibling and I both lived 20-40 miles away and work full time.
All communities have different issues. If you’ve already done an internet search for local home based senior services don’t forget to call local churches to see if there are any senior services offered — we have a couple of churches that support ministry to the elderly in the form of someone willing to come and sit with the person for a few hours just so family can get a break. One of them here is called GAP ministries. I used to volunteer with them when my children were preschool age (25 years ago) by taking them to visit in nursing homes — great experience for all of the age groups involved. 🙂
I understand your struggle: we so want to do what is best for our aging parent but I suspect that you, like me, are no longer a spring chick and have age /health limitations of your own. I still deal with guilt about how to care for my now 90 year old mother who refuses to leave her home in a rural area. Skip’s posts over the last 2 days have given me much comfort – God has not forsaken me nor have I failed Him! I knew this in my heart, but my head struggled with wanting the instant solution and feeling as if somehow I had failed when all I had been able to do was endure. What a comfort to know again that endurance IS the goal. God bless you, friend.
Their needs (not there). 🙂
Also here’s a link that can be helpful in finding local care (not sure how to make it an active hyperlink in this format) http://www.caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/fcn_content_node.jsp?nodeid=2083
Michael C…thank you for sharing with us what a day & night in your life looks like. Sometimes talking about our trials is the best medicine in the moment.
God has given you a gift of writing and expressing yourself with a brutal honesty. I have no doubt that that honesty has proven helpful to many others.
Hang on to Paul’s words…”Endure.”
And, hang on to Skip’s words…”You will not run out of gas on the way, even if the needly says EMPTY. Three negatives guarantee it.”
Praying for God’s resolution to your circumstances.
Blessings.
Thanks for the comments to all that responded.
Sometimes I just blurt stuff out. Cleaning up messy diapers tends to ground one to the earth somehow and wipe out the fluff that usually attends conversations. It gets down to basics real fast.
That’s what I like about Skip’s blog. It’s very fluid yet somehow retains a firmness that exudes a firm foundation even though you might not get to a specific answer to something.
Between Skip’s offerings and living as a caregiver I’m learning that answers aren’t always an end. Sometimes there are none. And having no answer somehow answers a lot sometimes.
Sometimes you just keep going. Taking the next step, breathing the next breath and entering the next moment. Keep moving forward. We were made for motion and language. Listen and move on.
That’s pretty much what I’m doing these days.
Listening and going forward.
He is still speaking and He is still real and going with me.
That’s enough.
Again, thanks for the comforting comments.
Shalom, Skip (and everyone). I’m a little slow in responding to this but, as they say, better late than never. 🙂 You have no idea how timely this (and Polar Opposites (1)) were for us. We have had a very rocky week with our family going through significant “adjustments” and coming to terms with future directions. I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say that there have been times of “intense fellowship” between Laura and me (I’m sure you’re familiar with that phrase) over the last week or so.
Thursday night was a rather intense, serious but not heated discussion about the core issues that we have to deal with as a family over coming months. After the discussion when we were about to get ready to retire for the night, I read this TW and the one before it. I promptly printed them both and read them to Laura. Talk about “hitting the spot”. It was the first time I’d seen her smile all week. A wry smile, but a smile nevertheless. And a comment…”I could strangle you right now, Skip…” (tacit agreement that, “yes, you’re right, again, but…”). 🙂 It really did help. Thank you. Abba’s timing is perfect, as always.
For now, we’re learning patience…and trust…and that always seems to be the hardest lesson to learn, because just when we think we’ve learned it, the next lesson seems to take it to a whole new level.
Dear brother Rodney.. (amen!!!) – and thank you! No test- no testimony! Shalom!