Bleeding Love

Not many in Scripture suffered more than Paul — beaten, imprisoned, hunted — yet he wrote the Bible’s most joyful letter, Philippians, from a prison cell. In this episode, Blake opens 2 Corinthians 8 and asks how Paul found such deep, durable joy in the middle of such suffering. The answer: we are never more like Jesus — who loved and bled — than when we suffer, and that nearness to Him carries a joy the world can’t touch.Blake holds up the Macedonian church, who in “severe affliction” and “extreme poverty” still overflowed with joy and begged for the privilege of giving beyond their means. Joy, he reminds us, isn’t the same as happiness — it’s the presence of Christ in the midst of pain. And for anyone in a hard season who’s beating themselves up for not feeling it, the word is grace: the Lord knows exactly where you are, He is near to the brokenhearted, and the invitation is simply to turn toward Him.Follow Before the Lord on Facebook (@BeforeTheLord) and Instagram (@beforethelorddevo). Get devotionals delivered to your inbox at blakescrawford.com/sign-up, or listen anytime at blakescrawford.com/listen. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeart.