i have spent this year reading through the bible chronologically. once i got to the new testament i decided to switch it up a bit and just read books all the way through in a setting instead. it is amazing to me how much you lose when you just read a paragraph out of a chapter and even just a chapter out of a book.
then there are verses that i have read many a times before and they leap off the page. that whole “the bible is living and active” thing is so fun to watch actually happen. i love that the Spirit makes it alive. that He is so quick to speak to us through His word.
tonight i was finishing up 1 corinthians and starting 2 corinthians. and i read 1:9
Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 2 corinthians 1:9
though i haven’t felt i had received the sentence of a physical death, i have felt the sentence of loneliness.
i remember feeling the sentence of loneliness in moving to a new place…but that was to make [me] rely not on [myself] but on God who is capable of providing.
i remember feeling the sentence of loneliness in singleness…but that was to make [me] rely not on [myself] but on God who is the only one who satisfies.
i remember feeling the sentence of loneliness in continually closing changing and ending friendships…but that was to make [me] rely not on [myself] but on God who is the perfect companion and friend.
He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 2 corinthians 1:10
and in the “sentence” whatever it may be, we get to choose to set our hope in Him, the only one who will not disappoint or leave us looking like fools.