We hope you enjoy this re-post from September 9, 2013. Be blessed! The Today’s Quote From God Team

…we were so utterly and unbearably weighed down and crushed that we despaired even of life [itself]. – 2 Corinthians 1:8, AMP

It is very easy to look at pastors, missionaries, and others who have given themselves to a career in ministry as some sort of superheroes. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, smarter than the average bear, and more spiritual than 1,000 lay men and women put together, we think that such people don’t have a clue what it is like for “average” folks to fight temptation, trials, and trouble in the “real world.”

Nothing could be further from the truth! The Apostle Paul, who in Acts 16:25 was singing in jail, found himself despairing of life in 2 Corinthians 1:8. Buckling under “oppressing distress,” even the one whom some have called Christ’s greatest apostle was beaten down, defeated, and weary of life’s constant fight.

Of course, the natural question we ask of God when faced with distressing circumstances is, “Why?” Although it is not clear in the scriptures if Paul asked this question himself, he at least recognized the purpose wrapped within the pain. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:9 (AMP):

Indeed, we felt within ourselves that we had received the [very] sentence of death, but that was to keep us from trusting in and depending on ourselves instead of on God Who raises the dead.

Like us, Paul struggled from time to time with the tendency to trust in his own wits and in his own will power to face life’s trials. In order to teach him that human strength is unreliable, God had to periodically bring Paul to his breaking point in order to teach him that God-reliance, not self-reliance, is the only way to have victory in any circumstance.

When it comes to human frailty, Paul was just like us. When it comes to having victory over that frailty, we can be just like Paul – if we learn to let go of our own devices and let God supply us with the only thing that can overcome anything: His supernatural strength.

Pastors? Missionaries? Others who have given themselves to a career in ministry? They are just like you and me. They have to rely on God to get through each day just like the rest of us. If we can learn to depend on God the way they have, then we can be just as effective at reaching others for Christ as they are, and we can do so right in the mission field of work, school, or sphere of influence that God has placed us in today.