Footsteps #206

Eight times in 2Cor11:26 you will find the word “danger.” The majority of the danger that is referenced here comes from people! Interestingly and strategically, those that are listed last are “false brothers.” If you pause, even momentarily, and reflect on this list, you will acknowledge that it is simply overwhelming. v24; Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ‘Forty stripes’ was a Jewish punishment meted out to those teachers who departed from the faith. A whip of three cords was used. Two-thirds of the blows fell on the offender’s back, the other third on his chest. The victim would be left raw and bleeding, looking more like a side of beef than a man. There was always the possibility that the offender might die under the lash, which was why one stroke less was given just to avoid the possibility of the officer in charge losing count and doling out too many. Most people would be so traumatized after one such beating that they would be extremely reluctant to face another. That, of course, was the point of the exercise. The whole purpose of the punishment was to terrify the victim into submission. The fact that he endured it five times suggests not only that Paul had a strong constitution, but also that God strengthened him with an extraordinary sense of resolve. Read again 2Cor.4:16-18. “Therefore, we do not lose heart… what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal…our momentary troubles…” That is the perspective of the same individual who, in chapter 11, details his life in ministry. Wow! Where would we say is the primary focus in our life? Is it on the internal or the external? Is it on the temporary or the eternal? I fear we will dismiss Paul’s experiences recorded in chapter 11 as irrelevant to us. We have not experienced even a minute fraction of what he did. Regardless of that reality, our need to fix our eyes on the eternal is just as important as it was for Paul.