If you feel the sentence of death today, you’re in good company. 

Paul did too. 

I don’t know what pain and brokenness—emotionally, physically, spiritually—you’re walking through, but I know you’re not alone. 

In 2 Corinthians 1, Paul hammers out his grief.

Do you despair life right now?

“We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even life.” (v. 8).

Do you feel the sentence of death?

“[I]n our hearts, we felt the sentence of death.” (v. 9).

Do you awake each morning, holding onto Hope with white knuckles?

“But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” (v. 9).

Dear one, I don’t know what has happened to you, or what pain has sent you reeling, or what loss or death you’ve experienced. 

But you are still here and God is still here, which is hard evidence that He’s not done with you yet. 

“He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us…” (v. 10). 

It may look different than you want right now. It may look like death. It may be a gaping loss that you’re carrying. It may feel irreversible on this side of heaven. 

But our God is in it for the long game, both here and later. 

And on Him, on Him, on Him, we have set our Hope.