Knocked Down But Not Knocked Out

Knocked Down but Not Knocked Out

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. . . . We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

Have you ever felt thwarted by failure when you were sincerely committed to following God’s will? If so, you have plenty of company. On the adventure, being hurt by our own or another person’s bad choices is inevitable. But God has a wonderful way of making bitter experiences sweet. He can redeem our failures and weave them into a pattern of his good purpose for our lives. Just look at the life of Joseph. His brothers betrayed him and sold him into slavery. Potiphar’s wife accused him falsely and got him thrown into jail. Joseph was pressed by troubles. God had given him a dream of serving in leadership, which must have been perplexing as he languished for months and years in prison. But even in the land of Joseph’s suffering, God made him fruitful. He used what was meant for evil in Joseph’s life and turned it to good. Nothing could thwart God’s plans for Joseph.

Sometimes all we can see across our lives is a jumble of jagged lines or a fragmented mess. But just as an artist can redeem a seemingly ruined painting with careful brushstrokes, God’s redeeming love and power can make beauty out of our blunders, bring strength out of our weaknesses, and change our failures into success. As today’s verses say, we may be pressed with troubles, perplexed, and knocked down, but we are never destroyed: “Our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies” (2 Corinthians 4:10). —CHERI

God, here are the failures, the things I’ve messed up, and the things others have done that have sandbagged my efforts: ________________. I ask you to redeem them all, to bring good out of evil and success out of failure, all for your glory and the fulfillment of your perfect plan.

God would never permit evil if he could not bring good out of evil.

—THOMAS WATSON (1620–1686), PURITAN THEOLOGIAN