2 Corinthians 12 (3)

Pray Psalm 71.23, 24.
My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You,
And my soul, which You have redeemed.
My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long;
For they are confounded,
For they are brought to shame
Who seek my hurt.

Sing Psalm 71.23, 24.
(Solid Rock: My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less)
My lips with joy and praises ring; to You, Redeemer, praise I bring!
I praise Your goodness all day long; LORD, humble all who do me wrong.
"Refrain v. 3
A Rock of habitation be; command Your Word to rescue me;
my Rock and Fortress ever be!

Read 2 Corinthians 12.1-13; meditate on verses 11-13.

Preparation
1. What did Paul claim?

2. Of what did he remind the Corinthians?

Meditation
Paul is a bit chapped at the Corinthians I think, because their foolishness made him stoop to folly in boasting, even about his weaknesses (v. 11). They knew him. They’d benefitted from his ministry for nearly two years. They observed his patience and were blessed by his words and works (v. 12).

And yet, when smooth-talking, self-aggrandizing false teachers came along, they kicked Paul under the bus. His words were more edifying, and his works were more convincing than all the words and works of the false teachers combined, and yet they bailed on him.

I’d be angry, too.

If Paul came short in anything, as compared with his ministry elsewhere, it was that he was “not burdensome” to the Corinthians (v. 13). Ouch! They didn’t pay him a dime, and he didn’t say anything about it until 1 Corinthians 9, when he laid down the law of God on their sorry, stingy, inconsiderate plates. For Paul, a Gospel worker should had have the support of those he served (Gal. 6.9; 1 Cor. 9.11, 14).

The last phrase in verse 13 drips with irony and sarcasm and shows us that even these have a place in our witness and ministry. Sometimes it’s the only way to communicate with people who are so stuck on themselves that they can’t—or won’t—heed the plain Word of God.

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Chapped, yes, but also borderline sad, discouraged, and maybe even a tad depressed.
How sorry we are for his burdens. How grateful we are that he was human.
Christians are not called to be Pollyannaish, nor bury our heads ostrich-like in the sand.

What we are called to do is find victory over our times of infirmities, our reproaches, needs, persecutions, and distresses. For most assuredly, they will come.

Paul succumbed momentarily to the Corinthians’ treachery: “in nothing was I behind the most eminent apostles, though I am nothing” (2 Cor. 12.11). Paul was our brother in Christ. He was a fellow traveler. We grieve for him in this situation.

Even if we are never tried to the point of despair (but really, who isn’t?), we have brothers and sisters in Christ who are experiencing these same sorrows and dark times of the soul. We must be astute in our watchfulness for them, and careful with our ministering to them.

David cried out,
“Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing;
I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
I am weary with my crying; my throat is dry;
my eyes fail while I wait for my God” (Ps. 69.1-3).

David and Paul knew where to turn when they were suffering.
They would wait for God to comfort them.
His strength, they knew, was sufficient for whatever trial ensued.
His strength, they knew, would lift them out of their weaknesses—
physical, emotional, spiritual—and make them victorious overcomers.
In His time. In His way.

“Let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high.
I will praise the name of God with a song,
and will magnify Him with thanksgiving” (Ps. 69.29, 30).
“Because he has set his love upon Me,
therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high,
because he has known My name.
He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation” (Ps. 116.14-16).

God is calling us “out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2.9).
“Then your light shall break forth like the morning,
your healing shall spring forth speedily,
and your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry, and He will say,
‘Here I AM’” (Is. 58.8, 9). Dear child.

And really, does it get any better than that?

For reflection
1. To whom do you turn when you need comfort or encouragement from the Lord? Why?

2. Who turns to you for comfort or encouragement?

3. Whom will you encourage today in the grace of the Lord?

Paul says that the Corinthians insult the apostles by regarding him as inferior to these false teachers. His irony merely makes his rebuke more severe. John Chrysostom (344-407), Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians 27.2

Pray Psalm 71.14-18.
Give praise to God for the hope of glory we have in Jesus Christ. Ask Him for strength and grace to live that hope today, that some who see your hope might ask a reason for it (1 Pet. 3.15).

Sing Psalm 71.14-18.
(Solid Rock: My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less)
But as for me my voice I raise to sing in hope and constant praise!
With saving grace my voice will swell Your never-ending grace to tell.
Refrain v. 3
A Rock of habitation be; command Your Word to rescue me;
my Rock and Fortress ever be!

O LORD, I praise Your righteousness Who me from youth have taught and blessed.
Forsake me not when I am old, ‘til I Your mercies all have told!
Refrain v. 3

T. M. and Susie Moore

The Church in Corinth was in need of revival. But there was much to be done before that would happen. The Church today is in need of revival, and the same is true for us. Our book, Revived!, can help us to discern our need for revival and lead us in getting there. Order your copy by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter, available by clicking here.