2 Corinthians 1:3 Blessed [gratefully praised and adored] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts and encourages us in every trouble so that we will be able to comfort and encourage those who are in any kind of trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as Christ’s sufferings are ours in abundance [as they overflow to His followers], so also our comfort [our reassurance, our encouragement, our consolation] is abundant through Christ [it is truly more than enough to endure what we must]. source
Here’s the thinking train: The Father loves us as much as He loves JESUS and He let JESUS suffer. He loves us, we have to know He will allow us to suffer too; I am confident though we will never be allowed to suffer to the extent that JESUS did, nor could we. All our suffering has a purpose – to save us from ourselves and perhaps help those we love or even needy strangers to see JESUS for themselves. All that JESUS suffered had a purpose – again, it was us; to save us from hell – eternal death.Â
BUT. The Father also comforted JESUS and He comforts us. Read our verses again. If you recallMatthew 4, you know JESUS was so comforted that angels actually came and physically attended Him. He had been forty days in the wilderness where satan tried with everything he had and still failed to distract Him, discourage Him, dissuade Him, or in any wise defeat Him. The Father allowed that!
BUT when the work was done. Comfort came! The angels came and ministered to Him. I am imagining they came with food and water and Word from the Father. Comfort comes in proportion to the suffering.
2 Corinthians 4: (NLT) 15 All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory. source
This is a mean and cruel world in which we live; horrible, incomprehensible things happen daily and some of those things come close and we are stunned, shaken, and bewildered, and we question what now? This now!:Â we are always loved and GOD is always good!
7Â But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.8Â We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;9Â persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;Â source 2 Corinthians 4
Let us walk it out for one another in prayer, faith, and caring words.
Revelation 21:4 (CSB) 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away. source
And until then
2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (TLV)3Â Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement. 4Â He encourages us in every trouble, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any trouble, through the very encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God. 5Â For just as the sufferings of Messiah overflow into us, so also through Messiah our encouragement overflows. source
We are glad you are here; stay a while, look around, and be encouraged. There are over 3,500 posts here at The White Stone Blog. Please know my hope is ALWAYS to help and NEVER harm. I have voiced many opinions and thoughts here since 2007 and by now I MAY NOT EVEN AGREE with all of them and some of my grammar and punctuation likely needs editing. But this is changeless: JESUS is our ONLY Savior and Hope. Do you KNOW Him?
Let us walk it out for one another in prayer, faith, and caring words.