The God of all comfort

Here is another passage that talks about God's good purposes in the suffering of his children.  Let me quote the passage in full and then we'll talk about it.  2 Corinthians 1:3-9 (ESV), "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.  If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.  Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.  For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.  Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead."

First, the two titles that Paul gives to God: "Father of mercies" and "God of all comfort" mean that God is the Father of every believer who gives to us every kind of mercy that we need.  He takes pity upon us and provides us with every kindness we need.  And also he is the God who provides every kind of comfort that we need.  Especially, as Paul continues this Father who is God provides his mercies and his comforts to us when we are afflicted.  We will come back to how God comforts us in a moment but for right now we come to the first of two purposes for affliction in our lives.  This first one is that God comforts us in our afflictions so that we can comfort others who are in any affliction.  That word "any" is critical.  Paul is not thinking about just persecution here but any affliction, any trouble that a believer finds himself or herself in, God provides comfort so that you can then comfort others in the same way that God has comforted you.

Thus, one of God's good purposes in sending various kinds of trouble to his children is so that we will learn how to help others who are afflicted know the wonder of God's love and mercy in their lives.  Paul goes on to say that we, that is, all Christians share abundantly in Christ's sufferings.  If you have followed this blog you will recognize here the same language we saw in Romans 8:17.  The sufferings of Christ that we share in are all the sufferings, all the miseries that come as a result of living in this fallen and cursed world.  Notice, as we've seen repeatedly, we share in these sufferings abundantly.  But also, Paul says, we also, through Christ, share abundantly in God's comfort.

Now Paul returns to the previous point, the reason he and his companions are afflicted is for the comfort and salvation of the Christians in Corinth and if they are comforted it is for them as well.  Paul recognizes that all his trouble and all his comfort from God is meant by God for the service of others.  It is through the suffering and God's comfort in that suffering that he is able to help other believers be comforted in their afflictions as well.  This is so helpful to know when you are suffering that God has designed the suffering and the comfort you receive from him in the midst of it so that you can be of benefit to others in their sufferings. 

Now he comes to the second purpose for God's sending afflictions.  He tells them that the afflictions which he and his companions experienced in Asia (modern Turkey) were so intense that they had given up hope of continued life, they were sure they were going to die.  However, he says, God sent such intense, hope destroying affliction to them so that they would learn to not trust themselves, not to rely on themselves but to trust in God who raises the dead.  We see it here again that God sends the trouble to make us look away from ourselves to him alone.  He aims that we trust and hope in him alone because he alone has the power to raise us from the dead.  So too, his purpose in the trouble is to get us to look past the comforts and pleasures of this planet and to look forward to the new heavens and the new earth.  Through the trouble we feel the temporariness of this present world and look forward with greater longing to being with the Lord forever in our resurrected bodies and in this restored universe.

I'll write tomorrow about how it is that the Lord comforts us in our afflictions and thus how we comfort others who are in affliction.