Submitted by Lara Cook
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18l
There are days... days when I feel the weight of oppression so heavy on me that I can barely breathe or move. On these days, there is hope, but I cannot see it or feel it. These are the days that make Satan happy because he thinks he has won a battle. But he has not won anything. Even momentary affliction serves a purpose as stated in the scripture above. Ann Voskamprecently posted:
…there is a plan and there is a purpose and there is a God in heaven who didn’t just ink you onto the palm of His hands but etched your name right into Himself with nails and He’s hasn’t just got your number, He’s got your heart. He sees you, hidden in Him, and you aren’t ever forgotten because God can’t forget those right in Him. You’ve never missed the boat when you’re holding onto the Cross. Because God’s writing your story and He never leaves you alone in your story, and His perfect love absorbs all your fear and His perfect grace carries all your burdens, and your story is a happily ever after because Christ bought your happily ever afterso you always know how this story ends: You’re going to be okay.
Beautiful words. On the hard days, it is so hard to remember this…there is a God, and He is in control. Even the hard days are part of His plan and somehow they are serving a purpose. These earthly troubles are “light” and “momentary” in the grand scheme of things, but they feel so crushing at the time. And yet… they are only serving to make us better, preparing us for eternal glory. At the time, we are suffocating under the weight of them, we are usually not thinking about the weight of eternal glory beyond all comparison. We are focusing on the weight of the moment – the troubles, the pain, the struggle.
If the only place we look for hope are in the things of this world, we will never have true hope. If on these hard days I only seek comfort in the things that are seen, I will likely never feel better. Comfort and hope can only be found in Jesus Christ and on the hard days, it is the things that are unseen that pull me through.
Scripture to Claim:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5
