God’s People and Presence: the Key to Persevering with Praise
by Jonathan Zavodney • August 15, 2025
A devotional given to pastors on July 15, 2025
9 Hasten to come to me quickly 10 for Demas deserted me, loving this present age, and traveled to Thessalonica; Crescens traveled to Galatia; Titus traveled to Dalmatia. 11 Luke only is with me. Taking Mark, bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service, 12 but as for Tychicus, I sent him to Ephesus. 13 Concerning the cloak I left at Troas with Carpus, bring it when you come, as well as the books, especially the parchments. 14 Alexander the coppersmith caused me great harm—The Lord will repay him according to his work—15 against whom you also must be on guard, for he vigorously stood against our words. 16 At my first defense no one approached me, rather everyone deserted me—may it not be reckoned against them—17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully fulfilled and that all the Gentiles might hear, and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth. 18 Indeed, the Lord will rescue me from every evil work and will save me unto His kingdom of heaven, to whom is the glory in all ages. Amen.
2 Timothy 4:9–18
‘We need God’s people and presence to persevere with praise.’ That is one way to summarize the main idea of these verses. The text focuses, first, on God’s people and presence (vv. 9–17) and, second, on praise-filled perseverance (v. 18).
GOD’S PEOPLE AND PRESENCE
In Paul’s description of “his people,” there are three categories: (1) those who desert Paul (Demas [v. 9] and “everyone” [v. 16]); (2) those on whom he depends (Crescens, Titus, Luke, Mark, Tychicus, and Carpus [vv. 10–13]; see also Prisca, Aquila, Onesiphorus’s household, Erastus, Trophimus, Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, and Claudia! [vv. 19–21]), and those who are seeking to destroy him (Alexander [v. 14]). A few intreguing details concern proportions and dispostions. With the proportions, there are so many more names of people that are for Paul—helping, encouraging, ministering alongside—than are against him (Alexander who is actively against, Demas who is more passively against). Next, notice his dispostions toward “the good guys” and “the bad guys” for lack of better terms. He truly does depend on the good guys, sending them places (Tychicus [v. 12]), relying on them service (Mark, perhaps Luke [v. 11]), relying on them for keeping his material goods (Carpus [v. 13]), and relying on them for bringing him material goods (Timothy, the one bringing the cloak and books [vv. 9, 13]). Also, he expresses a disposition of care as he seeks to protect Timothy and others from harm he himself experienced (v. 15). In these ways, his disposition is truly one of dependence and deep care. His disposition toward “the bad guys” is intreguing too. He doesn’t overtly curse them or call judgment upon them. Rather, he says nothing in response to Demas (v. 10); he says concerning Alexander who caused great harm and vigorously stood against him, “The Lord will repay him” (v. 15); and concerning the “everyone” who deserted him at his first defense, he says, “May it not be counted against them” (v. 16). Even against the bad guys, Paul is patiently trusting in God’s justice and even pleading on their behalf.
Now, we need both God’s people and presence to persevere with praise, and it’s when the “everyone” desert Paul (v. 17), that God’s presence is precisely known. Against the bleakness of complete loneliness, this phrase shines brightly: “But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me” (v. 17). When all desert Christ’s people, Christ Himself, who had been there all along, makes His presence known in unique and powerful ways, giving the strength to persevere day by day by day. As Paul testifies to Christ’s sustaining and strengthening presence, he appeals to two things: his call and past deliverance. Paul’s call was to preach to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15; 26:16–18), so he reasons that he would not die until he fulfilled that call.
Likewise, he appeals to past deliverance in an interesting way: after appealing to his call and confidence as a result, he adds “and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth” (v. 17). There is only one other place in all of Scripture where the “lion’s mouth” is understood metaphorically to speak of enemies opposing God’s worker: Psalm 22:21: “Save me from the lion’s mouth.” Paul seems to be seeing himself, his suffering, in-line with the sufferer of Psalm 22. Beyond this more direct allusion, in Psalm 22 there are themes of needing to be saved/delivered (vv. 19–21), which we also see in our passage (1 Tim 4:17–18); there is the theme of “all the ends of the earth/all the families of the nations” worshipping the Lord (Psa 22:27), which we also see in our passage with the Gentiles (1 Tim 4:17); and there is also the them of the Lord’s kingdom (Psa 22:28), which we also see in our passage (1 Tim 4:18). Paul seems to be intentionally drawing on Psalm 22 to inform his present situation but not directly. There was one before him who was the perfect embodiment of Psalm 22: Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus identified so much with the Psalm that the gospel writers quote or allude to it twelve times (Matt 26:24; 27:35, 39, 43; Mark 9:12; 15:24, 29; Luke 23:34, 35, 36; 24:27; John 19:28). The most well-known quotations are when Jesus Himself says, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt 27:46; Mark 15:34, quoting Psa. 22:1). Likewise, all those who were with Jesus deserted him (Matt 26:56; Mark 14:50). In this way, Paul sees himself as following the footsteps of Jesus, suffering in isolation. It is Paul’s appeal to this past deliverances in this way that informs Paul’s hope for future deliverance—that is, his perseverance—and gives him praise lyrics to sing amid the suffering.
OUR PERSEVERENCE AND PRAISE
Paul’s logic in this text is this: Jesus called me to something (preaching to the Gentiles), and He has delivered me in the past as He Himself was delivered from death, so I too will be delivered from “every evil work” (v. 18). There are a few things that suggest Paul is not expecting immediate physical deliverance from death but rather ultimate deliverance through death. In other words, Paul is not expecting immediate physical relief from suffering but is hoping in his resurrection after death. (1) he speaks of “every evil work” (v. 18) but it is clear that some evil works could confront him at present (vv. 14–15) and presumably will continue to do so; (2) he follows his first confident statement in verse 18 with “[the Lord] will save me unto His kingdom of heaven” (i.e., will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom after death). (3) With his reference to Psalm 22 and identifying himself with Jesus, his example (Jesus) was not rescued from death but rescued through death: He died, and He was raised. It was Jesus’s resurrection that was the deliverance promised in Psalm 22. So too, Paul is expecting not immediate physical deliverance, but rather an ultimate deliverance through his resurrection after he dies, likely soon (2 Tim 4:6). Finally, it is Paul’s hope of this future and final resurrection that catapults him into praise: “To whom [the Lord] be the glory in all ages. Amen!” (v. 18).
So, following Paul’s example who followed Jesus’s example, Christians must rely on God’s people and presence to persevere with praise.
