BIBLE STUDIES....2 Corinthians 4:8-9
 
In preparation for a recent prayer meeting, I kept being drawn to the words: “persecuted but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed.”    These two appear to be consistent insofar as they speak to the issue of adversity, pain, and how we choose to handle it.  It seemed as though the Lord was desiring to bring a message of encouragement to a people battered by discouragement, and perhaps showing the signs of it outwardly.   
 
The scripture from 2 Co.4:8-9 reads:  “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”  If we break this down, the Lord may very well be sharing an important truth to us.
 
1. You may be hard pressed on every side, or afflicted in every way at the moment – but God says YOU ARE NOT CRUSHED!    Crushed – “to be made narrow; to compress; to restrain.”  You are not crushed; not being made narrow or compressed; not restrained.  Your natural senses may be telling you all these things, but your spiritual sense detects the truth: rather than being made narrow, you are being made deep, high, wide, and long – all in the love of Christ Jesus.  You are not being compressed but expanded to see and reach your full potential as a child of God.  Buds appear compressed, but alas they bloom, expand, open in the springtime! As they blossom and open, they offer a sweet fragrance, a pleasing aroma into the air.  Be gone, stench of sin!  Let us get the truth straight: the only crushing I know of is the crushing of the serpent, shown to us so vividly and powerfully and with such finality in the first scene of the movie, The Passion of Jesus Christ.  That is the crushing!  With one prophetic movement, Jesus proclaimed, “I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life!”  And you are not restrained; you have been set free.  The law no longer restrains you; but grace has set you free. Truth has set you free.  The Lord took captivity captive; you are no longer under the law.  You have come to know this truth, and this truth has set you free – you are free indeed!
 
2. You may be feeling perplexed, feeling at a loss – your Eternal Father declares that YOU ARE NOT DESPAIRING! Though you may feel lost; in truth you are not.  Once you were lost, but now you have been found.  You need not despair, for Christ says rather than despair He has given us hope, and surely hope does not disappoint.  He has given you faith, hope and love as gifts – and the greatest of these is love.  Once upon a time you counted the losses in life, but no more!  For Jesus has triumphed over principalities and powers, having disarmed them and making their defeat a public spectacle.  He conquered death and victory has been secured on a cross.  Now you count victories!  He has given you hope, He is your hope.  You can lay hold of the hope set before you, this hope you have as an anchor of your soul, sure and steadfast, a hope which enters the Presence behind the veil.  
 
3. You may have a sense of being persecuted; the great I AM tells you that you are not forsaken!  For He will never leave you nor forsake you.  You are told in Psalm 37 that the righteous have not been forsaken; God does not forsake his saints.  Rather you are promised that the righteous shall inherit the land and dwell in it forever.  You are reminded that despite what your natural eyes may see, you are indeed partakers of a divine inheritance.  You are an heir of God and co-heir with Christ!  Ours is a royal, regal, kingly lineage!  You have not been forsaken – you have been kept, are being kept now, and shall be kept in the safety of your Savior, the favor of your Father.  What joy to your soul to know of your identity, your position, place and purpose in life.  You are a sheep tended to by a loving Shepherd, cared for by an Everlasting Father.  The psalmist David writes in this wonderful Psalm that you are a descendant who is blessed.  Blessed.  Eight times in Psalm 37 David tells of “dwelling in the land.”  He who was once a cave dweller, called out of the cave to the land of Judah (praise), was brought to dwell in the land – to occupy it and dwell in it. 
 
4.  Finally, though you may have moments of being struck down, you are NOT DESTROYED!  In fact, you are just the opposite of destroyed – you are saved.  You have been saved, are being saved, and shall be saved.  For the Son of Man did not come to destroy lives, but to save them.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  Jesus said, “And if anyone hears my words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save it.”   You are saved – sozo – which means healed, cured, preserved, kept safe and sound, rescued from danger or destruction, delivered.  In a physical sense, saved is being healed.  In a spiritual sense, saved is receiving forgiveness for sin.  It is a new heart; a new start.  It is new life.  Jesus tells the woman who poured the fragrant oil of the alabaster jar, “Your faith has saved you.”  The Lord does all the hard work; our job is to have faith.
 
Come and receive what the Lord has for you.  Receive the freedom that Jesus Christ has secured for you.  Receive the hope found in His Promises to you.  Receive the inheritance that has been bequeathed to you.  Receive the saving grace of God and its benefits: healing; forgiveness; deliverance; and protection.  Receive a new heart.  Receive a new life.  Come in faith to receive what the Lord has for you.