I had faith, for I proceeded to speak. I myself was very much afflicted.

But though he had lost faith in the power of mankind to save him from the menacing death, he still held onto his faith in his God. So he spoke in faith, in expression of his faith. If no one else could help him, his God could. In voicing his faith, he spoke of deliverance by means of God. Such kind of speech did not prove to be false, futile. He was kept from stumbling in a death-dealing fall. So now he determined to “walk before Jehovah in the lands of those living.”

10. According to 2 Corinthians 4:12-14, why did Paul remember and quote from Psalm 116, in demonstration of what quality?

¹⁰ Faith in God is never in vain! The apostle Paul knew that. Whereas he realized that his strenuous missionary efforts were working for the life of those who heard his message but were also working for his earlier death, he still had faith in the sustaining power of God. He spoke of living on, not just here on earth, but also by a resurrection from the dead during the “presence” or parousia of Christ. Paul remembered Psalm 116 and wrote to the congregation in Corinth, Greece: “Consequently death is at work in us, but life in you. Now because we have the same spirit of faith as that of which it is written: ‘I exercised faith, therefore I spoke,’ we too exercise faith and therefore we speak, knowing that he who raised Jesus up will raise us up also together with Jesus and will present us [in whom death is right now at work] together with you [in whom life is presently at work].”​—2 Corinthians 4:12-14; Psalm 116:10.

11. (a) As respects the “chosen ones” and the “great crowd,” when will it be that they too can say, “Every man is a liar”? (b) Why will it then be fitting to think upon the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:8-10?

¹¹ Faith in God, even in the face of seemingly inescapable death, will be a vital necessity for the remnant of “chosen ones” and the “great crowd” of their loyal companions in the very near future. Certainly these will need to exercise faith when the combined irreligious secular powers make a final assault upon them after the clerical “man of lawlessness” has been done away with and all the rest of religious Babylon the Great has been consumed as with fire. There will then be no human aid to which to appeal, so that it could be said: “Every man is a liar.” Yes, all human assistance proves unavailable, fails, and would be a delusion. But, in order to strengthen faith in Almighty God, they can think of the apostle Paul, who, before speaking of his own faith, said: “We are pressed in every way, but not cramped beyond movement; we are perplexed, but not absolutely with no way out; we are persecuted, but not left in the lurch; we are thrown down, but not destroyed. Always we endure everywhere in our body the death-dealing treatment given to Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be made manifest in our body.”​—2 Corinthians 4:8-10.

12. In the final part of the “great tribulation,” how will they imitate Paul when quoting from Psalm 116, and what will they, like the psalmist, say to themselves thereafter?

¹² Under similar circumstances during the final part of the “great tribulation,” the “chosen ones” and the “great crowd” can imitate Paul and “have the same spirit of faith as that of which it is written: ‘I exercised faith, therefore I spoke.’” They too can exercise faith and therefore speak with unabandoned faith in God, in spite of acknowledging that things look very black for them. (2 Corinthians 4:13)