2 June 2010
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NKJV)
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 states two of the New Testament titles given to God as the “Father of mercies and the God of all comfort”. It goes on to tell us that God “comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble.” Imagine this as the opening theme of the book which documents the great price the apostles had to pay for their ministry. Chapter 4 tells us that “we are troubled on every side yet not distressed; we are perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not forsaken; cast down but not destroyed”. In the midst of what the apostles went through, they discovered God as the one who comforted them through their experiences. In the dynamic interplay of ministries being birthed and effecting nations, they found God as the One who was faithful to keep them. Now, they could have parked there in the revelation of what they received from the Lord, but they didn’t. God’s servants saw their consolation as a means to an end. What they had received they knew they were to give away.
As the God of all comfort He could meet man at every level of disappointment and discouragement. There is nothing that life can throw at you that the cross of Christ did not anticipate. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says “Godis faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape”. The way of escape they found not to be the way out of the situation, but rather, as the way through the situation. Going through stuff with God renders you unscathed at the other end of the experience. The only thing you take out of it is the grace you found as you sought God and clung on to Him with all your might. He is called the God of all comfort because we are going to need His comfort.
When you face the press of life and it looks bleak, when you stand in faith and it doesn’t look like it will change, be reminded that He has all comfort and whatever you need, God will deliver. Then take the grace you’ve found and share it with another in need. The cycle is not complete until another tastes the comfort of God through your life.
We are all declared to be able ministers of the New Covenant. What makes us able is the grace that comes to us while we are walking in the process of being made into His image. Let’s not baulk at the process that will really form us. Let’s find the grace of God in His comfort and then give it to another.
- Pastor Tom Wells