The Father of mercies and God of all comfort

2 Corinthians 1:1-11 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Timothy,

To the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Achaia:

² Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. ⁶ But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; ⁷ and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are partners in our sufferings, so also you are in our comfort.

⁸ For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction which occurred in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life. ⁹ Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, ¹⁰ who rescued us from so great a danger of death, and will rescue us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us, ¹¹ if you also join in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons in our behalf for the favor granted to us through the prayers of many.

In today’s text Paul says: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are partners in our sufferings, so also you are in our comfort.  Our walk with Christ comes with many blessings and promises, but to be spared of any difficulties or afflictions is not one of those promises. We live in a fallen world, and so we will sometimes be affected or afflicted by the condition of the world we live in. Over and over the accounts of those who lived by faith, in both the Old and the New Testament, include accounts of their trials and difficulties. As Paul points out, we are not promised to be free from suffering, but we are assured that in our suffering we will be comforted. In John 16:33 Jesus says: “These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” Isaiah 53:5-6 says: He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, And by His wounds we are healed. All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all To fall on Him. Our comfort came by Christ’s suffering. Our peace and our comfort in suffering and tribulation comes as we overcome the world with Him and through Him. In Matthew 6:33 Jesus is speaking about God’s provision for our daily needs when He says: “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you.”  The same blessing holds true concerning our suffering. If we will seek His kingdom and His righteousness, regardless of our condition or circumstance, His comfort will be provided to us, and we will overcome the tribulation of the world.

What does it mean; how do we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness? In Matthew 22:37-38 Jesus says: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.” If we seek Him first, and love Him with our whole heart, soul and mind, it means that He is our priority over and above everyone and everything else. In Mark 10:29-31 Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.”  We are most likely not called to actually leave our houses, brothers or sisters, mothers, fathers or children for the sake of the gospel, but we must make God and the gospel our priority if we want to know and experience His blessings and promises. More even than what we give up for Him, what we give to Him, He will multiply and return to us.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.  Amen.