August 19

We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; — 2 Cor 4:8 BSB

The child of God is “troubled on every side,” because he has more than just one side on which to be troubled. He has both a spiritual and a temporal side, a side in his soul and a side in his body, a side in his supernatural life and a side in his natural life, a side in his new man of grace and a side in his old man of sin. To conform him to the suffering image of Christ, trouble must come upon him from every side, just as it did upon his blessed Lord. In fact, his troubles are often multiplied in proportion to his grace, for the more afflictions abound, the more abundant the consolations, and an abundance of consolation is a sign of an abundance of grace. Therefore, the more grace a believer possesses, the greater his sufferings will be. The more he walks in a path that pleases the Lord, the more he will be baptized with the sorrows and tribulations that his great Head, Jesus Christ, was baptized with before him.

Yet the Apostle says, “troubled on every side, but not distressed.” The term “not distressed” literally means that we are not trapped in a narrow place from which there is no escape. It corresponds with another of Paul’s statements: “God will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.” This aligns with David’s words: “You have known my soul in adversities; you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a large room.” Though we face trouble on every side, God does not abandon us to the enemy. Instead, He sets us in a place of freedom and escape, where we are not confined to destruction.

Thus, the believer, even in his dying moments, has a God to turn to, a Savior into whose arms he may cast his weary soul. The Holy Spirit relieves his doubts and fears, applies sweet promises to his burdened spirit, and grants him resignation to the will of God. In the dark valley of the shadow of death, the Holy Spirit illuminates the way with the light of the gospel, enabling the believer to walk through it with comfort and peace.