ABANDONED BY MEN NOT BY GOD
2 Timothy 4:16-18 NKJV
16 At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them.
17 But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. 18 And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!
Paul was writing to Timothy and sharing some of the difficulties he had experienced. He warned Timothy about a man named Alexander, who had put up a big resistance to the preaching of the gospel. He also spoke of people who had abandoned him.
In verse nine, Paul mentioned Demas who left Paul because he “loved this present world.” And, in verse 16, Paul mentions the people who would not stand with him when he was defending himself. Paul said all forsook me. That had to have been difficult. You have people who are with you, and then you turn around, and they are gone. But Paul’s response was classic Christian maturity. May it not be charged against them. Paul prayed that the Lord would not hold their abandonment against them. That’s living big as a believer. It would have been easy for Paul to have been bitter or resentful. Instead, he was prayerful.
And we see where Paul places his confidence in verse 17. “But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me.” And now, we get a glimpse into how Paul kept going in the face of opposition and abandonment. He was confident in the Lord standing with him and giving him strength. And if the Lord is standing with him and giving him strength, then what people did was not as important. And not only did the Lord stand with Paul, but He delivered Paul from the difficult situation that he was facing. Paul called it being delivered out of the mouth of the lion. The lion’s mouth is far closer than I want to get, but bottom line - being delivered is the most vital.
Then, we hear Paul’s expression of faith and confidence in the Lord. He declared, “The Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom.” You gotta love that confidence. Not, hopefully, the Lord or I am looking to the Lord, but the Lord will deliver me. Paul went through a lot when preaching the gospel. More than most people would be willing to endure. But it was more than just Paul being strong-willed. Paul was strong in his faith. He believed that the Lord Jesus, who called him and equipped him, would be with him all the way to the end. So in the middle of difficult times, Paul may have been knocked down, but he was never knocked out. With the Lord giving him power, we understand Paul’s exclamation of faith when he said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That was not just a positive phrase to Paul; that was a living reality. So, Paul’s confidence was not in man but in the God who would never abandon him.
APPLICATION
People don’t always do the right things. And sometimes, when we need them the most, they check out. We need to take a page from Paul’s life and pray for those who let us down. Praying this way helps to keep us from being bitter and giving the enemy access to torment us. Lord don’t lay it to their charge is a good prayer.
And don’t stop there. Lord, thank You for standing with me and strengthening me, is our next prayer. Believing the Lord is helping us and will deliver us is so helpful when we are in the lion’s mouth. The Lord being with us is the best thing we have going.