Have you ever felt like such a failure that any direction you'd turn you'd still feel trapped? Guess what? It's not as bad as it looks. Often when faced with overwhelming difficulty we feel like we're in a dead end, but truth is that no one is ever out of moves. Even a dead end still has one way out - the way you came in through.
In times of overwhelming difficulty, we can look to the promise given in 2 Corinthians 4:8-10: "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies."
What does it mean to be "struck down, but not destroyed" and why is important to hold on to such a promise? The Bible is filled with stories of people who were struck down but not destroyed at many points of their walk with God. I am reminded of Joseph who was "struck down" multiple times - when he was sold to slavery, when he was sent to jail for a crime he did not commit and when the cupbearer he had helped forgot about him. I am reminded of Moses who was "struck down" by Pharaoh multiple times and was stuck in a dead end at the Red Sea.
When faced with trials and difficulty - financial challenges, sickness, career problems, ministry burn-out, family strife or relational dysfunction - Satan would want you to believe that you're out of options, but we are never out of options. In every trial I have faced, there was always a way out and there was always a glimmer of hope. I believe this is true for every single one of us today if we really think about it.
We may be struck down many times, but we will never be destroyed because Jesus' body was destroyed once and for all for all our iniquities. When Jesus took to the cross the sin of all mankind, He nailed upon Himself every consequence as well - every trial, every pain, every challenge. That's not to say that we won't experience problems anymore, but it does assure that these afflictions we face have been made extremely lighter because of Jesus' finished work. Psalm 34:19 says, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all."
Do you feel struck down today? Hold on to the promise and truth that you are not destroyed. You are not stuck in a dead end. Even when we are out of strength and strategy, Jesus will make a way for us to experience liberation from these momentary afflictions.
