The Pain of Paul

Throughout all of his travels, Paul endured many things. In addition to the dramatic stonings and shipwrecks, he endured the no-less-troubling lack of basic needs. He writes in 2 Corinthians that he lived "in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure" (2 Corinthians 11:27). In 1 Corinthians, he also boasts of a few less spectacular hardships:

 

"For as I see it, God has exhibited us apostles as the last of all, like people sentenced to death, since we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and human beings alike. We are fools on Christ's account, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clad and roughly treated, we wander about homeless and we toil, working with our own hands. When ridiculed, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we respond gently. We have become like the world's rubbish, the scum of all, to this very moment." (1 Corinthians 4:9-13)

 

To continue on and read why Paul so patiently endured all of these difficulties, click here.