Pressed And Perplexed

by R. Darke, Victoria, B.C., Canada | Category: General | Oct 1995

It might not be a cure for our own ills, but it does help sometimes to have sympathy for those worse off than ourselves. Life's burdens, frustrations, disappointments, discouragements, of natural and spiritual origin, can overwhelm, drag us down, and leave us feeling despondent and defeated: until! until we enter into the circumstances of fellow Christians, and recognize the extent of their adversity. Paul is a good example for us to consider.

One cannot help feeling deeply sorry for the faithful apostle to the Gentiles. He was such a zealous, godly Christian who gave his all in the Master's service. With him, despite life's adversities, there was never a thought of slowing down, turning back, or losing heart. His life seems to have been battered from all directions like a barque in a storm, yet remaining always upright, weathering, surviving, until it reaches harbour. He wrote on an occasion, as though recording a ship's log: 'We are pressed, perplexed ... pursued ... smitten down' (2 Cor. 4:8,9). He suffered '...labours ... prisons ... stripes ... deaths ... beating with rods ... shipwreck ... perils of rivers ... robbers... travail ... hunger and thirst ... cold and nakedness (2 Cor. 11:23-28). Battered by circumstances and people, he fought on bravely, determined to enter the heavenly harbour with torn, waving flag aloft, and vessel afloat.

How do our adversities compare with his? Without belittling what we endure day by day in a pressure-filled, demanding, stressful society, it is good to understand the meaning of words used to describe Paul's ordeals. He uses the word pressed, equivalent perhaps to our word pressure, which some say comes from top, bottom, and both sides in life. Paul's word for pressed, from the Greek, indicates pressure of circumstances, crowding, a wearing down process. It is being hemmed in. Does that sound familiar? Recall Martha's experience which caused her to cry out: 'Lord, dost Thou not care?' (Luke 10:40). Today, we would say she had reached the end of her tether. She may have felt herself submerging or drowning beneath the billows of her out-of-control circumstances. Similar, perhaps, to the disciples' experience in the storm when they cried: 'Carest Thou not that we perish?' (Mark 4:38).

In it all is despair if we reckon without Him. He stilled the storm with a word; He assuaged Martha's fears by counsel and the affectionate calling of her name. Likewise, He encouraged Paul with the confirmation of not being forsaken (2 Cor. 4:9), or being left in the lurch. For us, too, is the positive assurance that 'Jesus Christ, the Son of God ... did not show Himself a waverer ... but ... all the promises of' God, whatever their number, have their confirmation in Him... and promote the glory of God through our faith' (2 Cor. 1:19, 20 Weymouth). On this we too can rest.

R. Darke, Victoria, B.C., Canada | Oct 1995
General