• Home
  • About
    • Our Contributors
    • Our Beliefs
  • Blog
  • Bible Studies
    • Scripture Dig
  • Archives
  • Shop
  • Advertise
  • Contact
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

Do Not Depart

Encouragement and Tools to Abide in God's Word

You are here: Home / Scripture Memory / Torn Between Two Choices {Memorize Philippians 1:23-24}

Torn Between Two Choices {Memorize Philippians 1:23-24}

April 29, 2019 by Lisa Burgess Leave a Comment

Welcome to Do Not Depart! Be sure to subscribe to the Do Not Depart RSS feed or email updates to receive regular encouragement and tools to abide in God's Word.

Welcome back to Do Not Depart! If you haven't already, subscribe to the Do Not Depart RSS feed or email updates to receive regular encouragement and tools to abide in God's Word. This post may include affiliate links. To read our full disclosure policy, click here. Thank you for supporting this site!

When have you been torn between two choices?

Once you made up your mind, what was the deciding factor?

Torn Between Two Choices Philippians 1

The apostle Paul was torn between the two ultimate choices of life or death. He was “hard pressed between the two.”

The Greek here is sunechomai, which means to be pressed on or constrained, as in a crowd.

The decision was crushing him from every angle.

Memorize This Week

23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.
Philippians 1:23-24

Philippians 1_23-24_th

[download the verse image]

Choose Mercy

We read of another crushing decision in the Old Testament. King David was asked to pick his punishment after he sinned by numbering the people against the Lord’s will. David was in great distress (2 Samuel 24:12-14). He had three choices: (1) seven years of famine, (2) a three month’s chase by enemies, or (3) three days of an epidemic.

David ultimately chose the last option, disease for three days, for this reason:

Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”
2 Samuel 12:14

Because the Lord’s mercy is great, David trusted Him.

Paul also knew the Lord’s mercy. And because of that knowledge, he longed to be directly with the Lord, the “far better” choice.

But next week we’ll memorize why Paul did NOT choose death, however, and we’ll see how we can frame our own decisions like Paul did.

Paul was torn between life or death. Which did he consider best? #Philippians1 #HideHisWord

Click To Tweet

Share
Pin1
Tweet
1 Shares

Related

About Lisa Burgess

Lisa looks for God in ordinary people and in everyday moments, then shares where she finds Him on her blog LisaNotes.com. She is a wife to Jeff and a mother to two girls here, one in heaven.

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
40 Days with The Storyteller: Lent Recap
Fruit of the Spirit

Join the DiscussionCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

This Month’s Theme

  • Jesus is the Way
  • And He Shall Be Called Series Intro

Enter your email address to have new posts emailed to you:

We’ll come to you

Enter your email address to have new posts emailed to you

Categories

Bible Memory – Lent 2021

Memorizing Isaiah 12

Let the Children Come

Let the Children Come

Want more #HideHisWord resources?

Memorizing Psalm 1

Find Us on Facebook


Search

Recent Posts

  • Series Wrap-Up: The Lord Is My Light
  • His Marvelous Light
  • When the Darkness Deepens
  • Though I Sit in Darkness…
  • Let Your Light Shine
  • Life-Giving Light

Archives

© 2025 · Pretty Creative WordPress Theme by, Pretty Darn Cute Design