2 Corinthians 1:3-5
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.”
Please read those words again.
We have not had to look far to see suffering in the past few weeks. Las Vegas. Puerto Rico. Florida. Houston.
And are any of our churches or families free from someone going through a trial, from estrangement and hurt, from sickness and death?
The Bible is drenched in tears from the first appearance of sin until the promised day when God “will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 21:4). Suffering does not surprise God; he has deeply experienced grief and suffering (Isaiah 53:3). He came to earth in fragile humanity to be crucified for us, to bear the suffering we deserve, and to heal our brokenness.
There is no perfect 7-step sequence to conquer grief. We cannot mend the cracks and the chasms in this broken world. But we can pray to our God, “the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.” And our God can comfort us “in all affliction.”
“For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.”
