“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.”

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

OBSERVE

You may be thinking, “wow that’s a whole lot of comfort”, it’s like Jesus knew we’d be needing a lot of it in this life. The word “comfort” means to stand beside someone, to encourage or help them in times of trouble. There is SO MUCH joy in this life, but there is also a lot of distress and tension and sadness and pain that requires comfort; things that require someone to walk along side of us, encourage us, help us. God gave you and me His Holy Spirit to fulfill this role so that we would never have to go at anything alone. And God also gave us each other. We can walk along side one another “with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God”, we get to do this life together!!

APPLICATION

When we’re feeling hurt, or scared, or bored, or any emotion that leaves us feeling uncomfortable and icky, it’s natural to seek some kind of comfort. I want to encourage and challenge you to think about what you go to for comfort. What do you go to for relief? Perhaps it’s social media, or Netflix, or video games, or ignoring the problem altogether. When you’re tempted to choose that comfort, I challenge you to go to God first and seek His comfort. When people we love are going through similar emotions, I challenge you to stand next to them, to encourage and help them, just as God has done for you.

PrayER

My prayer for you all is that you’ll seek the “God of all comfort” from our passage today. God is REALLY good at doing what He said He would do. While earthly “comfort” might give us a quick fix, God wants more for us and He provides the kind of comfort that far outweighs anything this world could offer. I pray you seek God out this week and ask Him to comfort your heart today and everyday.