2 Corinthians 1:3-11
Praise to the God of All Comfort
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 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. 7 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.
8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 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, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
St. Paul says that our LORD is the God of all comfort...He comforts us in times of troubles...
Suffering happens and pain happens...God allows suffering and pain...Once Martin Luther King spoke at a funeral for four little girls who were killed in a church bombing...This is hard for us to understand...Dr. King said, “History has proven over and over again that unmerited suffering is redemptive.”...Jesus suffered and died for us on the cross...Jesus went through redemptive suffering for us, for all of us...God used Jesus to help us better understand pain and suffering...Still it is hard for us to understand these things...
On God and His Son, we have set our hope that the LORD and His Son will continue to deliver us...