Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Interpret Your Circumstances | New Testament | 2 Corinthians 1

Episode Date: June 29, 2023

Do you ever wonder what exactly God is doing in your life? When you're in a time of hardship, what's his plan? When we gives you extra resources, what's he doing? In today's episode, Keith shares from 2 Corinthians 1 to discuss how to let God shape your life. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 2 Corinthians 1

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. You don't live your life by facts. You live your life by your interpretation of the facts. Let me show you what I mean. Imagine a traditional family where the husband is the main financial provider and the wife is a stay-at-home mom with a couple of young kids. In our scenario, the husband is consistently working at the office late at night.

that is a fact that everybody agrees with. But how do the husband and wife interpret the fact? The husband might interpret it as a sign of his great love for his family that he's working late to provide the things they need. He says that he'd prefer to be at home for dinner, but that he's willing to make the necessary sacrifices so the family can live in a good school district and go on a vacation together. In our imaginary scenario,

the wife might have a completely different interpretation of the fact that her husband is working late. She sees the working late as a way for him to avoid her and the kids. The way she tells the story, her husband doesn't want to be around them, so he's choosing to stay away. If they end up having an argument over this, they won't be arguing over the fact because they both agree that he's working late. They will be arguing over their interpretation of that fact. Okay, let's do another one. And by the way, all this is setting up where we are in 2 Corinthians chapter 1,

which has a lot to teach us about how we interpret the facts in our life. But first, another scenario. Your kid's baseball coach frequently critiques your child's performance. Is that good or bad? Well, that depends on your interpretation. Maybe the kid feels bad and comes to you, the parent, to complain. What do you say? Should you agree with your child and say that the coach probably doesn't like him?

Or should you say the coach's challenges and critiques are a sign that he respects you and thinks you can improve. Maybe the parent tells their child that the worst sign is when the coach doesn't have much to say to you. He doesn't offer much in the form of critique. That's a sign the coach doesn't think the kid can improve, so he just doesn't say anything. How do you interpret the criticism is the difference between trying harder to get better and quitting and frustration?

Okay, so we don't live by facts, but by our interpretation of them. Second Corinthians is one of a handful of letters that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in the city of Corinth. Here's what we read in verses 8 and 9 of chapter 1. Paul says, we do not want you to be uninformed brothers and sisters about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. Okay, so Paul's sharing with this church about some of the difficulties that he and his companions had experienced in Asia. We're not exactly sure what happened to them, but we know that the

trial was serious enough that Paul thought he was going to die. The fact is that he went through a severe trial. But remember, we don't live by facts, but by our interpretation of those facts. So how could Paul interpret this hardship that almost led to his death? Well, he could have said that it was a sign that God had forgotten about him. You hear that interpretation all the time, don't you? I have cancer. Where is God? I want to be married, but I'm not, or have kids, but I can't. Why has God abandoned me? Paul could have interpreted this trial to mean that God was treating him unfairly. Imagine Paul saying, God, look, after all the ways I've served you, why aren't you giving me the good things that I really want in life? I'm a missionary for crying out loud. Shouldn't I get a few breaks in life? You hear this interpretation all the time, don't you?

maybe someone who faithfully follows God experiences some horrible hardship and the people around them say look he or she didn't deserve this what's the point of serving God if this is where you end up see these are some of the ways that Paul could have interpreted his suffering in Asia but he refused those interpretations instead he says this in verse nine but this happened now the this is referring to the trial the difficulty that almost ended in his death this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. Paul interprets the trial as something that came from God to teach him something that he needed to learn or grow in. Specifically, he needed to learn not to rely on himself, but instead to rely on God.

There's so much we can learn from these verses. Here are a couple big takeaways and then let's apply it to our lives. First, notice that Paul had to see through the trial to God. Paul didn't see the trial as the product of random chance or bad luck, but instead it was something that God had brought into his life. Second, there wasn't some big neon flashing sign telling Paul that God was teaching him through this trial. We are reading his interpretation of what happened. That interpretation was inspired by Paul's faith, by Paul's trust in God, by Paul's knowledge of who God is. Third, Paul isn't panicked. He had great confidence that God knows what's best for him. He's able to stay calm and examine his life.

He's able to pray and ask God what he should learn from the difficult circumstances he's found himself in. So how does this apply to our life? Well, when a trial or hardship comes into our life, we need to see that God is in control of it. That hardship we're experiencing isn't in our life by accident. God is using it in some way. The truth is we aren't usually privy to that information. God doesn't always tell us why he's brought something hard into our life. In fact, he rarely gives us that information.

Maybe he's done it to teach us what he wanted to teach Paul, and that is to rely on God and not ourselves. Or maybe he wants to teach us something different. Maybe he wants to help us be more empathetic toward those who are suffering. Maybe he wants to use it as a test to help us see if we truly love God are only the things that God gives us. maybe God is taking us through hardship in order to draw others to himself, the people who are watching us go through this hardship.

See, it's not always possible to know what God is up to, but the point we should get from 2 Corinthians 1 is that severe hardships aren't a sign that God doesn't love you or isn't being fair to you or has abandoned you. And of course, we have to interpret things other than hardship. For example, we have to interpret blessings in our life. let's say you receive an inheritance or get a big raise or for whatever reason find yourself with extra resources how do i interpret that should i think god loves me more than someone who doesn't have as many resources should i think god wants me to use those resources to be as comfortable as possible

or do i think god has entrusted me with blessings so that i can be a blessing to others how do i interpret conflict in my marriage i guess i could interpret it to mean that i married the wrong person or i could interpret it as God's way of refining my character so that I see my sin and grow in godliness. What a huge difference it would make in our life if we slowed down and let God shape our interpretation of our circumstances. A good place to start is affirming that God is good, that God is in control, that no matter what has come your way, it's not a surprise to God. He gives it to you for a reason. Paul reminds us that God is working for our good, even amid hardship. And then we should take a moment to pray. Ask God to show you what he wants you to learn

and how he wants to use your circumstances to make you into the person that he's called you to be. We don't live by facts. We live by our interpretation of facts. So let's interpret the facts of our life through the lens of faith in God's promises. Amen. Hey, thanks for listening. If you want to go deeper, sign up for the 10 minute Bible Talk News You'll get a short email once a week. It'll challenge you to grow in your faith, give you interesting background on today's passage, and a lot, lot more.

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