HUMILIATION OF PAUL!

HUMILIATION OF PAUL!

2 Cor 11:32-33

32 In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:

33 And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.

How humiliating! All Paul was trying to do was to present Jesus as the answer to life’s problems and the way to heaven. Yet he was rejected, persecuted and would have been apprehended were it not for a few friends who let him down over the city wall in a basket.

Have you ever had your best efforts misunderstood and rejected? Have you decided that you would not ever place yourself in that position again? If those you were trying to help were so ignorant as to misunderstand your message and your purpose then, well, they could just remain in their ignorance. You were done with them! You were tired of being hurt and humiliated!

Rejection and humiliation places you in company with Jesus. He is, of course, the Lord of Glory and yet He was esteemed to be “smitten of God and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4-6). Although Jesus suffered much abuse at the hands of those He loved, He never pouted. He never suspended his ministry. He never stopped serving and loving.

The first verse of a popular poem goes like this:

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Anonymous

Dear Lord, when your servants are abused and rejected, fill them with resolve and courage. AMEN