Charles Spurgeon Commentary 2 Corinthians 4:8

"[we are] pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair;" — 2 Corinthians 4:8 (ASV)

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed;

He is not so far gone as that. He sees the stormy billows raging everywhere outside the ship, and the ship is tossed here and there on the waves. Yet she does not leak, there is no water in the hold, and the waves will not sink the ship as long as she can keep them outside.

Trouble will not distress us as long as we can obey our Lord's injunction, Let not your heart be troubled. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed.

We are perplexed, but not in despair;

We scarcely know what to do, but we have not given way to despair. We are perplexed, but hope has not gone from us. Dum spiro spero, was the old Latin proverb—"While I live I hope;" but the Christian proverb is a still better one, Dum expiro spero—"Even while I die I still have hope," for the righteous hath hope in his death.