How can someone be distressed and suffering yet still always triumphant?
Distress and suffering can coexist with triumph because God always causes us to triumph. Paul had no rest in spirit over missing Titus, yet he obeyed the Lord’s call to Macedonia. Human feelings and hardships do not cancel God’s victory; He works through them and keeps His servant triumphant.
The context centers on Paul in II Corinthians chapter 2. He was heartbroken and distressed because Titus had not been able to keep his appointment at Choas. At the same time, the Lord revealed by a vision that Paul was to go into Macedonia, or Greece, and preach the Gospel. In verse 13 Paul says he had no rest in his spirit because he did not find Titus, but he left and went into Macedonia anyway. So even though he had lost track of Titus and did not know what had happened to him, he was obedient to the Lord’s call to cross the Aegean and begin his ministry in Macedonia. Then comes the contrast: thanks be unto God, who always causes us to triumph. The teacher explains that Paul was pressed down, distressed, and suffering, yet always triumphant. These are tremendous lessons for everyone: Paul was just as human as we are, with the same passions, appetites, and feelings, and he could get down, but he could also get rejoicing.
Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.