Transcript

Dave Branon wrote the following: “Since 1988, I’ve enjoyed writing several Our Daily Bread articles each month. I’ve felt blessed to dig into Scripture, observe life, and provide spiritual help in this publication.

“But on June 6, 2002, I found myself unable to offer help. On the last day of her junior year of high school, our 17-year-old daughter Melissa was killed in a car accident.

“In one horrible instant, everything we knew about God and the Bible and heaven was put to the test. We needed the Christian community to guide us toward hope as we stood at the funeral of a beloved young woman who had touched so many lives with her smile, her godliness, her love of life, and her care for others.

“For many weeks, I couldn’t write. What could I say? How could I find words to help others when my family—when I—needed so much?

“Now, months later as I begin to write again, I can say that God has not changed. He is still our loving heavenly Father, the “God of all comfort.” He is still the source of hope in the face of unexpected grief.

“I write of Him with a renewed sense of my need for His touch, His love, His strength. Broken, I write of the only One who can make us whole.”

True comfort in life comes from above, from the God of all comfort, through the pages of His Word. God never changes. He is always our Source of strength, peace, and comfort.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4: “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

“Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”

Paul begins the Book of 2 Corinthians with praise to God, Who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.

The term “blessed” expresses both gratitude and adoration. And we have much to thank and praise God for, in both Who He is and what He does. Paul praised God, and then He explained why God is worthy of our praise.

We praise God because He is “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This refers to the Father’s relationship to Christ, the Son of God, in the Godhead. He is the eternal Father of the eternal Son.

And through our Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, and our union with Him, our regeneration and redemption, God is our Father.

It is because of our Lord Jesus Christ that we can call God “Father,” and approach Him and the throne of grace boldly and have an eternal relationship with the Father.

And we give praise, blessing, and adoration to God in that relationship and how He cares for us and comforts us as a loving Father. Thus, we echo Paul’s words, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The members of the Church, the Body of Christ, are precious to the Father. And out of His love and care for us, He is a compassionate Father during our difficulties and hardships.

We praise God also because He is the “Father of mercies.” All mercies that we enjoy come from Him. Our God is characterized by mercy. He is the merciful Father.

As David stated in Psalm 86:5: “For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon Thee.”

Paul had suffered and been afflicted, as he shows us in the verses that follow, and he had experienced the mercies of God firsthand in these things. He had learned of God’s mercies, compassion, and kindness in his sufferings. And he praised God for it.

Paul wrote of God’s “mercies,” in the plural, to show how abundant God’s mercy toward us is. God’s mercy is manifold, wide-ranging, and reveals itself in many ways. As Nehemiah 9:19 says, “Yet Thou in Thy MANIFOLD mercies, forsookest them not in the wilderness.”

God’s mercy is tender and gentle. As Psalm 145:9 states, “The LORD is good to all: and His TENDER mercies are over all His works.”

God’s mercy is great and vast. As Psalm 103:11 puts it, “For as the heaven is high above the earth, so GREAT is His mercy toward them that fear Him.”

And God’s mercy is inexhaustible. It stems from an endless supply. Psalm 106:7 says, “Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the MULTITUDE of Thy mercies…”

As the old hymn, “Come Thou Fount,” says, “Streams of mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise,” and that’s what Paul was doing here in his praise of God.

And it is also “by the mercies of God” toward us Gentiles, in God choosing to have a program with the nations today, that we are beseeched to “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

We praise God also because He is “the God of all comfort.” We learn here that God the Father is our Comforter.

In John 14:16, the Lord told His disciples, “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever.”

That “Comforter” that the Lord was speaking of was the Holy Spirit. And when Christ said, “another Comforter,” the term “another” means another of the same kind.

In other words, the Father had already sent them a Comforter, Who is the Lord Jesus Christ, but after Christ ascended to heaven, the Father would send another Comforter, Who is the Holy Spirit.

Each Person of the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is a Comforter.

God is the God of all comfort, and the Greek word for “comfort” means more than sympathy or emotional relief only. It conveys the idea of someone who personally stands alongside another to encourage, impart strength, and provide support.

God is always there for us, and in His abundant mercies, He stands beside us to comfort, console, and give His strength to the afflicted, the anxious, and the downhearted. No believer is ever alone in hard times; God is there beside us always.

Later in this letter, Paul wrote, “Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down…” (7:6). When we are downcast and laid low by life and its trials, God can and will comfort us and lift us up.

God is not detached from us in our difficulties; He is always right there with us, and we can always find comfort in and through Him. In Isaiah 51:12, the Lord said, “I, even I, am He that comforteth you.”

It’s been said that “There are two things of which God is said to have the monopoly: He is ‘the God of all grace’ and He is ‘the God of all comfort.’ All grace comes from Him, all lasting comfort comes from Him.”

God, in His character and being, is full of comfort and strength. He has all power and truth to comfort us. True, lasting, and meaningful comfort comes from God.

And we discover the depth of God’s mercies and comfort when we reach a place in life where we desperately need it. Paul had come to that place in his life, and in his experience of God’s faithful mercy and comfort, he praised God for it.

As the God of ALL comfort, Paul said that God “comforteth us in ALL our tribulation.” The word “tribulation” means pressure and refers to being under the pressure of life’s afflictions and troubles. During these difficult times, God is always right there to bear us up, encourage, and give us His strength and peace.

Genuine comfort in the midst of all our troubles is always available from God. And there is no gap in God’s care of the believer. He does not comfort us just here and there.

No matter what affliction we may be experiencing, and whatever its intensity, God is always there to comfort and to provide the strength and encouragement we need.

God unfailingly comforts us in ALL our tribulation as we turn to Him in faith.

But comfort from God is not an end in itself. God does not intend for the comfort He gives to end only with our personal benefit. He wants us to pass it on.

Godliness is about imitating God and demonstrating His character in this world. God is the God of all comfort, and we, His people, are to be people of comfort.

God’s further purpose in His ministry of comfort is to enable us to become His channels in extending His comfort and encouragement to others in their troubles. God’s comfort is transferable, and He intends us to share it with others. And as God comforts us in ALL our tribulation, He desires that we comfort others in ANY of theirs.

As the old saying goes pertaining to this passage, “God does not comfort us to make us comfortable, but to make us comforters.”

God comforts and ministers to us that we may comfort and minister to others. God uses our times of trouble and His comfort in them so that we might sympathize with others and encourage and comfort those who go through similar experiences.

The comfort that God gives to us becomes a gift we can give to others, and we can comfort them “by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”

We comfort one another with the comfort of God, not our own. God channels His comfort through believers to those in need.

Douglas Maurer, 15, from a small town in Missouri, had been feeling bad for several days. His temperature ranged between 103 and 105 degrees, and he was suffering from severe flu-like symptoms.

Finally, his mother took him to the hospital in St. Louis. He was there diagnosed as having leukemia. The doctors told him in frank terms about his disease. They said that for the next three years, he would have to undergo chemotherapy.

They didn’t sugarcoat the side effects. Upon learning this, he went into a deep depression. His aunt called a floral shop to send Douglas an arrangement of flowers. She told the clerk that it was for her teenage nephew, who has leukemia.

When the flower arrangement arrived at the hospital, Douglas read the card that was attached from his aunt. Then he saw a second card. It said: “Douglas: I took your order. I work at Brix florist. I had leukemia when I was 7 years old. I’m 22 years old now. My heart goes out to you. I am praying for you. Sincerely, Laura Bradley.”

And his face immediately lit up. Douglas was in a hospital filled with millions of dollars’ worth of the most sophisticated medical equipment. Expert doctors and nurses were treating him with medical training totaling in the hundreds of years.

But it was a salesclerk in a flower shop, who, by taking the time to care, and by being willing to go with what her heart told her to do, gave Douglas hope, comfort, and the will to carry on.

In following God, He desires that each of us have a ministry of comfort to those in need. We show God’s love, compassion, and care in this world as we do so.

It’s been said well that “Through an encouraging word, a heart-felt embrace, a kind note, a loving presence, a side-by-side walk through death’s valley—the Spirit works through His people to comfort those downtrodden by the pain and turmoil of life.”

2 Corinthians 1:5-7: “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

“And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.”

Paul now illustrates his point from his own life. Paul experienced many afflictions and sufferings because he belonged to Christ, stood up for Him, and served Him.

Later, in chapter 11 of this letter, Paul described some of these sufferings in a long list. Some of which included, “in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

“Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep,” and it keeps going.

All this demonstrated his words here that “as the sufferings of Christ ABOUND in us.”

As Paul suffered reproach, rejection, hatred, and persecution in his ministry, he referred to this as “the sufferings of Christ.” Paul called it this because Christ faced these things during His earthly ministry, and because the Lord still faces them when the members of His Body, the Church, experience them in their service for Him.

Because of union and identification with Him, when believers are persecuted and suffer for Him, the Savior suffers. And the believer’s suffering is then the sufferings of Christ.

The sufferings of Christ abounded in Paul’s life, but at the same time, Paul wrote that “our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.” In other words, as the problems increased, so did the comfort.

And this was so because God is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.

As suffering abounded in Paul’s ministry, God’s consolation abounded through Christ at the same time.

Our thought process can be that consolation and comfort can only be found in a change of circumstances, but often what God does is to console and comfort in and through our difficult circumstances, and to do it through Christ.

Our comfort from God comes through Christ. Our hope, life, and all we have in Him is what gives us strength, encouragement, and support in and through any trial.

And from his own experience here, Paul is telling us that regardless of how great our trials and tribulations may be, God will always match them with His comfort, strength, and encouragement. God’s comfort matches the measure of our suffering. And if suffering increases, God’s comfort increases.

The comfort of God is abundantly sufficient for any hardship we endure, no matter how long it lasts and no matter how much it worsens.

Paul added the purpose for his suffering in verse 6, “And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation.” This was part of God’s comfort for Paul.

The word “salvation” in the Bible does not always mean salvation from the penalty of our sins through the cross. The word simply means deliverance and must be understood in its context. The context here is about suffering and troubles in life and ministry.

According to His own purposes, will, and working in our lives, God does not always deliver or keep us FROM trouble, but He can always deliver us IN our troubles, giving us the strength and peace to endure them.

Paul is telling the Corinthians that when he and his co-workers were afflicted in their service, it was for their spiritual good and benefit, for their comfort and deliverance.

Paul’s example of being afflicted in his imprisonments, persecutions, and hardships would encourage and comfort the Corinthians, and it would also challenge and deliver them in their sufferings, giving them the strength that would see them through their trials.

The comfort and deliverance that God gives would enable the Corinthians to effectively endure even the same kinds of difficult sufferings he endured, Paul added in verse 6.

And because God comforts us in all our tribulation, Paul said, “or whether we be comforted,” and this too was for their spiritual good and benefit, for their comfort and deliverance.

God did not work only through the afflictions Paul endured; God also worked good things in others through the comfort Paul received from Him.

And the comfort which he received, Paul says, was for the consolation of the Corinthians and to inspire them to patient and steadfast endurance in and through their sufferings.

By following Paul’s example, the Corinthians, and the Body of Christ as a whole, can derive comfort and develop endurance in our sufferings as we observe how Paul faced his trials in faith and how God comforted and delivered him in and through them all.

And Paul’s example illustrates the truth of verse 4 for us, “[God] comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”

Paul next told the Corinthians in verse 7, “And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.”

Paul firmly believed and knew that what God had done for him, He would do for others. In his life, he said in verse 5, “as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.”

And the apostle expressed his steadfast confidence and conviction that, as the Corinthians were partakers of the sufferings of Christ in serving Him, they would, in turn, also know and experience the consolation and comfort of God through Christ.

As the Corinthians shared in Christ’s sufferings, they would also share in the Father’s comfort. Suffering never comes alone for the believer. They are always accompanied by the comfort of God.

2 Corinthians 1:8-11: “For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:

“But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;

“Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.”

To show the Corinthians the power of God’s comfort, Paul next drew upon a recent experience and explained a serious life-threatening situation he had endured.

Paul had spoken in general terms of affliction and comfort, but now he mentioned more specifically a severe instance of testing that he had recently gone through.

Paul told the Corinthians that he did not want them to be “ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia,” or Asia Minor. This event happened in Asia, before he came to Macedonia, where he was writing this letter.

Thus, it likely took place during Paul’s time in Ephesus. And most likely, it was the uproar and riot stirred up against Paul by Demetrius the silversmith recorded in Acts 19.

Of this dangerous trouble in Asia, Paul said, “that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life.”

So severe and intense was this trial that Paul was “pressed out of measure, above strength.” Paul felt overwhelmed, weighed down, and crushed beneath a load too heavy to bear. This trial was beyond a person’s natural strength or ability to endure.

Paul said that he “despaired even of life,” or he thought he would not live through it. The word “despaired” means to be utterly at a loss, to renounce all hope. There seemed to be no way out, and Paul saw no escape.

And Paul even added, “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves.” Things were so dire that Paul had passed the sentence of death on himself. He felt sure that he was about to die for the sake of Christ and the gospel.

But God had a divine design behind his suffering, and had Paul learned by it all: “that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God.” Paul was driven to God.

The Lord took Paul to an extremity from which he could not rely or fall back on any intellectual, physical, or emotional resource or ability of his own to deliver himself.

And at that point, Paul had to do what David said in 2 Samuel 24:14: “I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for His mercies are great…”

This experience led Paul to cast himself entirely upon the Lord. In this affliction, Paul came to understand that God had a purpose in allowing it. By it, Paul learned, to an even greater extent, to trust, not in himself, but in God.

God’s design in our times of hardship is that we would trust Him rather than ourselves. God want us to learn to always trust Him, and to trust Him more.

Our natural response is to trust in ourselves, but God wants us to learn to trust in Him, and for that to be our first and continuing reaction in all circumstances.

Difficult times can kindle divine reliance. God allows them for this reason that we might grow closer to Him and know Him as the God of all comfort in them.

Paul’s death decree led to divine dependence, and he put his faith “in God which raiseth the dead.” The apostle felt sure he was doomed to die, and thus, his only hope in this state was in the One Who can raise the dead.

But because God has and will raise the dead, He is more than able to deliver us in and from our present physical problems.

And regarding Paul’s dire situation, he wrote that the God of the resurrection, “delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.”

Paul’s trial would have been fatal if God had not intervened. And God did intervene and delivered Paul which, of course, greatly comforted the apostle.

After it, Paul saw God’s comforting hand of deliverance whether he looked back, around, or ahead.

The apostle came to trust that the God of all comfort Who delivered him in the past can deliver him day by day in the present, and would continue to deliver him in the future until the day when he would be completely set free from the troubles of this world.

Paul was thankful for God’s intervention and he was thankful for the Corinthians’ intercession: “Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.”

In regards to God delivering Paul from his tribulations in the present and the future, Paul said that he would truly be helped in this regard by the prayers of the Corinthians for him. And this is because, through God, intercessory prayer has great power.

And Paul added “that for the gift bestowed upon us” of deliverance, “by the means of many persons” praying for him, “thanks may be given [to God] by many on our behalf.”

Paul saw his present and future deliverances from trouble to be due to God and the intercession of the saints. He says that because of the prayers of many, then many would give thanks when their prayers were answered.

Paul teaches us here that afflictions do four things for us. First, they give us a greater appreciation for God’s mercies and comfort. Second, they lead us to be comforters. Third, they cause us to trust God more. And fourth, it gives us confidence in the present and stronger hope for the future.