“Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say ‘Yes, yes’ and ‘No, no’ at the same time? As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No.” [2Co 1:15-18 ESV]
This is the first big sticking point in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. A couple of items to notice here. First, we can see by inference how Paul’s opponents watched him closely, taking the first opportunity to slander him. Paul said he would come and he did not so the enemy was there to plant seeds of doubt and dissension against Him.
We have an enemy, who is the devil (Satan). He is the Father of lies. His business is the opposite of the business of Jesus. The business of Jesus is to build a church with kingdom keys to lock down the business of Satan. The Corinthian church was not doing the business of Jesus. They were doing the opposite. We need to remember that Satan has no kingdom, no throne. Satan rules nothing so he is entitled to nothing--especially from The Church!
Second, notice how Paul describes his conscience: it is clear. He was deliberate in his intention to come “to you before, that you might twice receive a blessing: to pass your way into Macedonia, and to come again from Macedonia to you, and be helped by you on my way to Judea. Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do it lightly? [I was not vacillating when I intended to do this] Or the things I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be Yes, [“I’ll go to Corinth” or] Yes, and [then] No,[ “I’ll go . . . or not”] No? [“I’m not going.”] But [as] God [is] faithful, our word to you was not ‘Yes and No.’” We come and go on God’s agenda.
The Corinthians must have forgotten the way he closed his previous letter, “For I do not wish to see you now just in passing; for I hope to remain with you for some time, if the Lord permits.”(1 Cor 16:7). God did not permit the visit, yet remains faithful.
What room do you leave in your life for God to be God? His faithfulness depends on Him, not us. “Blessed are the flexible” is a saying often heard in our fellowship. Let us not make the mistake of the Corinthians and conform truth to our comfort, our agenda. They lost perspective and it damaged their relationship with Paul.
