“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort: who comforts us in all our trouble that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” (vs3-4).
Christ comforts us, so that we comfort others. We are not indifferent to others, so long as we‘re “happy“. Instead, we are blessed in our misery and comforted in our heartbreak, so that we can preach the SAME Christ to people in need - “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds 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” (vs5-6).
If your faith is tried, then you will find Christ faithful. He who sends the storm will not fail to comfort you by the gospel, but He will send you peace - “And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing, that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall you be also of the consolation” (vs7).
If you’re troubled, it is for the good of others, and if you’re comforted, it is for others, too, so that God LINKS us together, so that what I go through is for your good, which helps us understand purpose in this world.
Don’t live for your happiness, or you won’t be happy. Live to HELP others know God, and you’ll have God to help you do it, you’ll have joy and peace in helping them, and you’ll rejoice in seeing them helped. He puts us through STRENUOUS, soul-emptying, unbelief exposing trials, so that we can be at the end of self, so that He can be honored in saving us, so that we tell others, “Trust God who raises the dead”, rather than secretly pointing them to their own self-trust - “For we would not, brothers, 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 raises the dead: who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us” (vs8-10).
Don’t think it strange that you’re troubled. You and I, like Paul, need purging. There is UNBELIEF in us hiding below the surface, and we need to see HOW we trust in self, so that we can repent of this false confidence. We must see that though I’m unable, God is able. Though I deserve misery, God is merciful to sinners who should be punished.
This great God of comfort gives us hope and peace by the means of the prayers of others - “You also”, Paul says, “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” (vs11). We trust God to save people, not by indifferently saying, “God is sovereign” and thinking no more of it, but by PRAYING to the Sovereign, expressing our love, and then being useful in other people’s good.
The gospel is NOT a solo affair. Paul and Timothy wrote to the church - “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia: grace to be you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ” (vs1-2).
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