Broken Beyond Repair

For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 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. 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 Cor. 1:8-10 ESV)

Paul has identified here a spiritual circumstance that is essential to spiritual growth: the condition of brokenness. The specific occasion of this writing was as part of the introduction to a letter reestablishing Paul’s relationship with the church at Corinth after a painful falling out. The purpose of highlighting his afflictions was to defend his authority as an apostle. Certain detractors had used Paul’s misfortunes as a basis for calling his legitimacy as an apostle into question. Here Paul turns the tables on them and declares that his suffering was necessary. The attacks were so severe he was left with no alternative but to cast his fate upon God. The fact that God had brought him safely through demonstrated that he was indeed called.

The implication is that Paul could not have survived if God had not willed it. He had been pushed to the end of his resources and was left with no alternative other than to submit to God’s unaided strength. Paul tells us God saved him to preserve and promote the gospel Paul preached, and the apostle was at pains to communicate this truth to the Corinthians. Paul suffered and overcame insurmountable difficulties not only to cement his apostolic authority but to demonstrate that God alone delivers.

There are a number of passages in the Bible where God clearly demonstrates His power by bringing about otherwise impossible rescue from distress. But this kind of suffering is not reserved for Bible stories. I think we must all reach a point of powerlessness in the face of circumstance before we can truly place our reliance on God.

If we wonder at the practical skepticism and lack of commitment inherent in our Christian walk, we might remember that our age is characterized by an underlying belief that suffering can be mitigated by purely human measures. We are privileged. How many of us find ourselves at the point where we do not know where our next meal will come from, or how we are going to feed our kids with no job and no resources? How many of our lives are threatened by human enemies or a disease the cure to which is beyond the claims of modern medicine? There are some, but in our comfortable society these are exceptions. Affluence and technology shield us from complete despair.

But I would argue that what keeps us from suffering at the same time keeps us from experiencing the full power of God. The pain we experience that leaves us with no alternative but to cry out to God for deliverance opens the door to liberation in Him. Unless we are left with nothing but God to rely on, we do not call upon Him. We rely on human measures, and God remains peripheral. God is able to transform the most difficult circumstance into unimaginable blessing, but we must trust in Him rather than ourselves.

I am not suggesting we should go out looking for calamity. It will no doubt find us. But we must recognize that when it occurs it may be more than unfortunate happenstance or unmerited (or even deserved) punishment. It may be the key to our emancipation, if we trust in Him.