Hard-Pressed

Believers are more hard-pressed than ever. Not just in a few areas, but on every front. 

Paul describes it this way: “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9) 

Notice Paul didn’t say we feel hard-pressed. He said believers are hard-pressed. And yet his words are interwoven with immense hope. Because though we are perplexed, persecuted, and struck down, we are not crushed, forsaken, or destroyed. 

It’s tempting to harden our hearts when hard-pressed. But rather than close down to self-protect, God invites us to open our hearts and our eyes to what’s really going on. And once we see the eternal rather than the temporary, we can then share it with others—through our lives, our stories, and our creativity.  

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV)

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