Episode #357 Hard Pressed, Not Crushed – Real Peace, Secure Faith

Hey, friend. What if being hard pressed doesn't mean you've been abandoned? I was sitting with this question because a lot of things in life are hard. They can press down on us, but the good news that we have in the Gospel is that not only did Jesus pay the price for our sins, but he reconciled us to right relationship with God. He made a way for us to, again, experience life with God. That's not just someday in heaven, that's here and now. But the resurrection didn't remove the pressure. We still go through hard things. Even I think about the lives of the first disciples, they were persecuted for their faith. They went through a lot of hardship. But they were able to walk through it differently because they walked through it with God.

Receiving faith doesn't mean that you are unbreakable or that things can't press down on you, but it does mean that you're held upright. And because of Christ, you're holding treasure. I wanna read for us from 2 Corinthians 4, and I'll read verses 6 through 9. It says:

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Now, that's a lot of words. I wanna pause there for a second. God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness has shown that light in our hearts.” And what is that light? It's the knowledge of the glory of God.

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”

We behold in the face of Jesus, “but we have this treasure in jars of clay.” That's how it continues in verse 7, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

We are like jars of clay. Humans made of the dirt. But in us is this treasure that shows that the power that empowers our lives doesn't come from us, but it comes from God.

The pressure we face isn't proof of defeat, but the resilience that we have. The eternal life that we get to experience now that then continues after life on earth, is proof of Christ's light that God has shown in our hearts.

We are not crushed even when we are hard pressed.

Now, I would love it if Jesus was like, “Hey. You've received salvation. Life is gonna be easy now. You're not gonna be afflicted or perplexed or persecuted or struck down. Those things they're just not gonna happen anymore.” But that's not what scripture tells us.

In fact, the Bible's really clear that we've will face trials of many kinds. And God meets us in them. Yes, with comfort. He is our God of all comfort. And with hope, he is our God of hope. and with his light shining in our hearts with his surpassing power at work within us.

And so the conversation that I encourage you to take to God is to ask him for insight beyond what you've already seen. Oftentimes we know when we're facing affliction, we feel, see, perceive that pressure. When we're struck down, we tend to notice. But God is always at work. His surpassing power is within us. We have this treasure. We behold the glory of God in Jesus. And there are ways that he is at work in us, in our spiritual formation and through us in our circumstances and around us in our world that we don't always notice, but we can.

And so we're gonna ask God to give us more insight into the things we haven't seen. And here's a question that you can take to him:

God, what's something you are doing that I haven't seen yet? And what do you wanna tell me about it?

I know there's more that he wants to share with you. Trust him. Even when you're pressed, you are not abandoned.

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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