Comfort

II Cor. 1:3-5

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

Who doesn't like comfort? Not too many people. Who would willingly choose pain, suffering, and affliction? The only one that I can think of is Jesus who chose all that for me that I could be reconciled to God. Sadly, pain, suffering, affliction, trials, hard times, disease, loss, grief, etc. are all part of life. But God promises to comfort us in those afflictions no matter the nature. I notice He doesn't promise to eliminate them. Why? I think it is those hard times that draw us closer to Him that make us cry out for His grace and claim His promises. How much drawing, crying, and claiming do we do in the good times? Sadly, we are too busy enjoying the good times! He comforts us not just for ourselves, but so that we can comfort others. We can minister to others of the wonderful grace of God that we have personally experienced. The promise is For as we share abundantly in Christ' s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. What an anchor is this!

A few verses after Paul taught these great truths, he tells of his own experiences. The afflictions he experienced in Asia utterly burdened him beyond his strength so much so that he despaired of life. Indeed he felt he had received the sentence of death. Whoa! That is some major suffering and affliction. Why did he share these intensely personal feeling? So that he could share what he had learned. But this was to make him rely not on himself but on God who raises the death. The suffering took him to the end of himself, and it is only there, that he could rely on God. Oh how painful to get to the end of ourselves! But God did deliver him, and he set his hope on that deliverance again. For all the promises of God find their yes in Jesus Christ. It is all YES for me because of Jesus, because I am His, because He has saved me, because His blood has covered me, because He indwells me, and because nothing, NOTHING can separate me from His love! Praise God!

Father,

I must confess I have felt this same way. Despair and being burdened beyond my strength has become my daily grind. Help me, Lord, to cling to Your promises. Help me to find my YES in You. Help me to rely only on You and not on myself.

In Jesus name,

Amen