2 Corinthians 5:11- 6:17
“As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.” – 2 Corinthians 6:10
I came across this sermon on part of this passage a few days ago and was eager to listen to it. As I read through this passage and then listened to this sermon, I was deeply challenged by the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians.
“What the world needs from the church is our
INDOMITABLE
INVINCIBLE
JOY
in the midst of suffering and sorrow”
– John Piper
I’ve included some thoughts God has stirred in my heart today as I read this passage and listened to this sermon but I think you will be greatly encouraged to listen to this sermon yourself!
“The taste of life that people are aching for is to see a person who is happy in the midst of pain, whose got something so deep, so unshakable, so indomitable, so invincible, so when all around their soul gives way, their joy doesn’t give way. That would be so salty, so bright. So bright it would look like the glory of God on the earth.” -John Piper
I prayed this would be a year of joy. Joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5) I wrote about it here before we even knew we were pregnant with Dasah. And then I wrote about it again here: “Be Filled With Joy” as I was processing this hope for joy this year that was looking so different then what I had thought. My hope was that I would know Jesus more this year AND have a simply joyful year in my circumstances. And yet, slowly, ever so slowly, I am seeing how God is answering that prayer. Yes, I am finding more joy in Jesus. It’s the deep kind of joy that resounds and reverberates within the walls of sorrow and suffering. And it’s a joy that’s coming IN my circumstances (just not the ones I thought it would come in). I’m learning what it means, to like Paul, be experiencing an abundance of sorrow and yet still always be rejoicing. Does knowing Jesus cause my heart to burst with such joy that I can still rejoice even in the most sorrowful of seasons? I think I’m beginning, just beginning to know Jesus like that. I pray that I would have the kind of joy “that would be so salty, so bright. So bright that it would look like the glory of God on the earth.” The kind of joy that would not just be for me, but for the world to see the one who brings me that kind of joy. This is the joy that God is beginning to give me a taste of, beginning to write on my heart. The kind of joy that declares, even in the darkest moments,
Jesus is my greatest joy. He is my greatest treasure.
“His oath. His covenant. His blood.
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way.
He then is all my hope and stay.”
-from the hymn “My hope is built on nothing less”
“Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing”
Questions for reflection:
1. Who is the only one that can bring us the kind of joy that can happen in the midst of sorrow? Why?
2. In what ways have you seen yourself rejoicing in the midst of sorrow because of Jesus?
3. Pray that God would begin to cultivate in you the kind of joy that is “invincible”.
Tomorrow’s Passage (Day 14):
David in Psalm 34
- A Time to be Silent and a Time to Speak - October 29, 2020
- Teaching Them to Hope, Birthday After Birthday. - January 15, 2020
- A Taste of Hope Fulfilled – Briella Dawn’s Birth Story - August 3, 2018
