Our lives are not painted in quite such stark colours but the reality remains that we, too, can experience hostility for faith in Jesus and even a sense (rightly or wrongly perceived) of being deserted by those we ought to be able to look to for help. At all such times, Paul's testimony is so heartening and welcome: "But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength." (v.17)
Like Paul, our need of strength is comprehensive - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. The resources we have acquired and stored-up can be emptied in a moment and our vulnerability laid bare. Exposed to trials we tremble and perhaps begin to crumble. But the Lord gives his people strength.
Not necessarily deliverance from the circumstances but the capacity to endure them. Not always a change of heart in those who aim to hurt us, but a heightened resolve in our own to look to and hide in the Saviour.
Paul needed that strength as much as we do. And the Lord gave it to him. We can be encouraged by that.
But he speaks here of something else, too, something truly precious. Not only did the Lord give him strength but he "stood at my side". The strength Paul needed could, presumably, have been given without such an awareness yet it was given at just the time it was needed.
Standing at Paul's side indicates the Lord Jesus' deep solidarity with him, a profound identification that Paul belongs to him and he is not ashamed to own him as such. Paul had not been abandoned by the One who meant most to him, whose love animated his life and impelled his service.
The one standing alongside him had hung betrayed and beaten on a cross of shame, alone in the darkness of his suffering, with no-one to walk that valley with him. He will not allow, he will never permit, those he gave his life for to experience those depths of isolation. He stands by our side, always.
Did others see what Paul saw and feel what he felt? We can't say. Possibly not. But that doesn't invalidate his experience. Paul knew he was not alone. Paul knew he was honoured and held by the One he was testifying for. He had been delivered from the lion's mouth and was fully convinced he would be delivered from every evil attack, being brought safely to God's heavenly kingdom.
Was the Lord's presence and sustaining grace simply for Paul's wellbeing? Paul believes not: the Lord stood at his side and gave him strength "so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the nations might hear it." Not one drop of suffering was wasted; all his tears were bottled and honoured by the Lord and, in his sovereign goodwill, made to be a blessing to others as the gospel was heard by then.
His strength, his solidarity and his sovereign goodness remain with all his people. We can count on it, even when all else fails.
************
He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labours increase;
To added affliction He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.
His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
His power has no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!
When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father's full giving is only begun.
Was the Lord's presence and sustaining grace simply for Paul's wellbeing? Paul believes not: the Lord stood at his side and gave him strength "so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the nations might hear it." Not one drop of suffering was wasted; all his tears were bottled and honoured by the Lord and, in his sovereign goodwill, made to be a blessing to others as the gospel was heard by then.
His strength, his solidarity and his sovereign goodness remain with all his people. We can count on it, even when all else fails.
************
He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labours increase;
To added affliction He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.
His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
His power has no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!
When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father's full giving is only begun.
His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
His power has no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!
(Annie Johnson Flint)
His power has no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!
(Annie Johnson Flint)
