Comfort
Towards the end of each year, I tend to look in two directions. First, I look back at how the year has gone, reflecting on the good, the bad and the in-between. Then I look forward with hope, expectation and aspiration for the year ahead. I always have reasons to thank God and be grateful for the year I am in, and I am always full of dreams and prayers for the year ahead.
Looking back at 2023, even with few days of it remaining, I can think of a few things to thank God for. I had a life saving sabbatical break this year. My family is in relatively good health and we've had many reasons to celebrate. I have also lost and buried very close friends, and my father in-law recently died, and we are yet to bury him. On top of all that, I have dear friends who are in hospital with life threatening illnesses. They and their family were unable to celebrate Christmas like others in good health. They've been in and out of hospital for months on end and are still there, with no clarity of when they'll be able to go home.
Every year has its joyful and sad moments, some with more sad than happy moments. The mixture of joy and sadness is not unique to 2023, but we always pray and hope for the balance to tilt towards more of the joyful. Think of those in war torn countries - Israel, Palestine, Ukraine, many parts of Africa. There are many in India, Pakistan, China and Nigeria, who are constantly persecuted for their faith. Innocent people caught in the cross fire and crisis they didn't create or vote for. The balance of life for them weighs heavily on the sadness, sorrow and death end. How has 2023 been for you? I bet you've had to face some things you never bargained for as well.
Suffering is part of the human experience. God does not always shield us from every suffering. However, there is a soothing balm God gives us when we experience suffering. This balm is not just to cope with our suffering. No, it actually brings us to experience his healing hands in our suffering. It leads us to praise him and help others who are suffering. The balm is Comfort! Not just any comfort, but God's Comfort. God did not promise to take all our suffering away in this world, but he has promised his comfort in every suffering.
Listen to his comforting words, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. " (2 Corinthians 1:3-7, NIV)
Paul is talking from experience here. He had suffered in Asia to the point he said it was "beyond {his} ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself." He goes on to say, "Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death." (2 Corinthians 1:8-9, NIV) Yet, he speaks of God's comfort in ways that can reassure us that when we face trials, sorrow and sufferings that overwhelm us, we can also look to God's comfort, until deliverance comes.
Paul urges us to look to God in suffering. He starts by saying God is not just God, he is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. Paul wants us to remember that God was there when Jesus hung on the cross and had to suffer there. His compassion and comfort was present even when Christ was suffering. That compassion and comfort did not prevent the suffering, but it was soothing enough for Christ to bear it. In the same way God's comfort and compassion helped Jesus Christ, so will God's comfort help us in our suffering.
Paul is now writing to the Corinthians after being delivered from his suffering. He is now able to comfort them, not just with human comfort, but with the comfort he received from God. This is amazing. God's comfort is not only meant for us, it is also aimed at others who will need us in the day of their trouble. Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthian Church who had been in crisis. His letter served to comfort them, but only after Paul himself had a near death experience from which he received God's comfort.
I pray for all those who are experiencing hardship, pain and suffering today. May the God of all comfort, comfort you. May you know his ever abiding presence in the midst of your pain and suffering. And when you have been comforted, may you learn to comfort others.
Now let's get practical. Who do you know who needs God's comfort today? Will you spare a moment to think and pray for them? Once you've prayed for them, ask God what you can do as a way of sending them God's comfort. It may be a text message, it may be a phone call, it may be a Bible passage or a visit. Pray that God will use you as a channel of his comfort to others. And as we enter 2024, don't forget that there will be those who need God's comfort. Pray that you will always be a channel of his comfort to others.
And a final word to all those who are in trouble and sorrow right now. Know this - God's comfort is available to you at this very moment. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning. Like Paul said, "...But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favour granted us in answer to the prayers of many." (Corinthians 1:9-11, NIV)
I love those verses. Paul said, God has delivered us, he will deliver us again, and we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us. Wow. that's the triple barrel promise we need going into 2024. No matter what may come your way in 2024, be confident that the God who delivered you in 2023, will deliver you again, and continue to deliver you always. Your sorrows will become your thanksgiving. So let's continue to pray for one another, so that those prayers when answered will bring comfort, then joy and deliverance to us and everyone around us. Receive the God of all comfort!