2 Corinthians 1:1-11 (The God of All Comfort, Part 2)

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia:

² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. ⁵ For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. ⁶ If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷ And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
⁸ We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. ¹⁰ He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, ¹¹ as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

Note:  If you did not read yesterday's post, you will want to stop here and read it.

Okay, so now to dig in to the Word...

First of all, look at verse 1.  Paul addresses this whole letter to "the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia (Greece)."  So these words are not just for a city, but for a nation.  These words are not just for some small people group, but they are for the whole of us -- Christ followers. Greece was a bustling seaport, full of all kinds of cosmopolitan sin, and it was very difficult for these new Christians to stay focused on Christ when people were telling them all kinds of "truth".  So, Paul wrote to them to encourage them and spur them to continue to remember Christ.  So, it's interesting that he starts by talking about God's comfort.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,..."  I am struck by the words that are used to describe God the Father.  I'm saddened when I hear people talk about God as a far-away being who likes to inflict hardship on us and who watches us from a distance.  Instead, God the Father is the complete opposite.  Look here -- He's the Father of compassion (He created it), and He's the God of all comfort.  ALL comfort.  Not just comfort for some people in some certain circumstances.  If you need comfort, HE is the source -- for everyone in everything.  Now, this particular letter refers to believers who suffer for Jesus' sake, but if we know that God is the source of ALL comfort, we can apply this to our own lives as well, even if our biggest burden today is not persecution for our faith.

"who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God."  Many people think that when God comforts us, our troubles must "go away."  But if that were so, then people would only turn to God out of a desire to be relieved of pain and not out of love for Him.  So we must understand that "comfort" from God can also mean receiving strength, encouragement, and hope to continue in the midst of our troubles.  This is what I have experienced this summer.  The pain didn't go away and healing on this side of Heaven wasn't granted.  But I did receive strength, encouragement, and hope to continue.  And because He doesn't always take us out of our troubles, we are then able to comfort others.  Let me tell you that much of the comfort I received came from other human beings.  I think God so often uses little ol' us to be His hands and feet (in fact, He tells us that He uses us in that way).  And so I experienced God's love and comfort through others, especially those who had walked a similar road as I was walking.  It's quite beautiful, really.  He doesn't have to make it this way, but He chooses to give us ways to use the experiences of our pain as a gift to others.

"For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ." Or as the NLT puts it, "For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ."  If your current suffering has anything to do with your belief in Christ, you can rest assured that you will experience even more comfort as your suffering continues.  There will be hard times when we follow Christ, but this assures us that those won't be more than the good times of His healing comfort.  He doesn't leave us out to dry alone.

"If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷ And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort."  Firstly, this verse tells us that suffering is for our benefit.  That theme is all throughout the Bible.  The donkey does not move until the sharp stick pokes him in the rump!  And so it is with us -- we will choose to stay right where we are (because it's comfortable) unless someone or something comes along that forces us to move forward and change.  Hence, God allows suffering into our lives, and perhaps even sometimes directs it to us, but only for our good.  And there is nothing more promising to observe in the life of a Christian, than their "patient endurance" in suffering.  

And so that is my prayer for us today: To be able to sit in the suffering without trying to run away, hide, or push it away, but instead with our eyes fixed on Him as He directs us through the darkness.  He DOES know the way, and He WILL lead us to the Light.  May you feel His strength, hear His encouraging words to you, and be filled with His hope to continue.  He is still working in this.