The apostle Paul opened his second epistle to the church in Corinth with the words, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” The background of these words was a season of persecution and tribulation the apostle Paul’s life. It is in that setting that Paul writes the his God, is the God of all comfort. The Greek word for comfort is a word that means “to console, call near or help”.
Dearly beloved, when Paul writes these words, he is not giving us a “Bible Study” about the doctrine of comfort as much as he is conveying the reality of God’s comfort in his life in times of intense opposition and persecution. Baptist commentator John Gill wrote, “there is no solid comfort but what comes from Him, and whatever comfort is had through His creatures is from Him.” How true and how precious it is to know and believe that our God is, the God of all comfort. Paul’s “near death” experience recorded there in chapter one brought him to the end of his ability to deliver himself. It brought him to a place of absolute trust and surrender to God and His purpose for his life. You see precious believer, The comfort of God is not to be understood as the absence of trouble. The comfort of God is the reality of the presence of Christ in the very midst of troubles and adversity. Christianity is not a religion of escapism, it is a faith in The Living God in the daily throes and difficulties that life may throw at us. I say that tongue in cheek, for life cannot throw anything at us that God does not first of all allow or permit to happen. Ask brother’s Job or Joseph.
You may find yourself in dire straits today, beloved. When we are in the heat of the battle of life, our emotions take on a life of themselves, don’t they? All of the prayers we have prayed and all of our “memory verses” vanish. Nevertheless, the truth of God stands my dear brothers and sisters. Jesus said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” There are no fiery furnaces or lion’s dens that can keep your God away from you. Be encouraged, beloved. The God of all comfort is there with you. Trust Him. Praise Him. May your faith IN HIM dispel every doubt and anxious thoughts of despair.
