The God Of All Comfort

The God of All Comfort

God comforts us in our trouble so that we can bring the love of God and comfort others.

1 Corinthians 1:3-4

Illustration

A very common story, that I'm sure just about every person in this room can understand... A young child is playing with his friends at the park on the playground. He falls, skins his knee, and comes running, crying, to his mom, who is sitting on a park bench. The wound feels practically unbearable to the child, so he screams in pain. But the mother holds him close and comforts him, telling him that it's going to be okay. "Shh. Shh. Quiet now. Mommy's here." Eventually, he calms down, tears still running down his cheeks, but his pain is more bearable because his mom is here with him. He knows he will be okay, just like she said. He trusts her. She cleans off the scrape and bandages the boo-boo, sealing it with a kiss (which makes everything better). And the boy is off playing as if nothing ever happened.

A mother's gentle touch that comforts. A mother's voice that reassures. A mother's presence that calms. A mother's compassion that heals. No this isn't a Mother's Day sermon.

But, even though each of us has probably experienced love like that as small children, how much more precious is the love and comfort God gives us through our suffering, our pain, our hurts, and our sadness?

Do you believe that God can touch each heart and bring us comfort in our time of need? Do you believe that God's voice can reassure and bring us encouragement in our time of doubt and questions? Do you believe that His holy presence is here to calm His child in the midst of overwhelming pain and heartache? Do you believe that God has compassion for His people going through difficulty and is willing and able to heal, to deliver them through it? Is that your God?

If He is, then give Him praise today!

Transition:

I want to talk to you about "The God of all comfort." And I want to point you in His direction. Because I think all of us could use a little comfort today, don't you? Would you pray with me as we ask God to speak to our hearts today?

Let's turn now to 2 Corinthians chapter one verses 3-4.

PASSAGE BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT INFORMATION:

This letter was written by the Apostle Paul just a few years before his first imprisonment in Rome and during the reign of Emperor Nero. It was written to the Church in Corinth. And in this first part of his letter, he gives praise to God who is compassionate and comforts him in suffering for the gospel. In verse eight he says, "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts, we felt the sentence of death, But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God..."

Many times I have heard people say the words, "God will never give you more than you can handle." This is not true. It is not scriptural. God does allow us to face things that are too big for us all the time. Why? Because He's cruel? No. Because He's punishing us? No. Because He wants us to rely on Him, not ourselves. If the things we face are never more than we can handle, then why seek God? Why pray or cry out to Him in our struggles? Why need Him? I mean, after all, we can handle it ourselves, can't we? But what happens when the difficulty, the circumstance, the hardship is bigger than you or me, too big for us to handle, and the questions have no easy answers? What then? As the late Christian singer Rich Mullins once sang, "We are not as strong as we think we are." We're not. But oh we try to be, when God is there like a compassionate Father, arms wide open.

We're not told what this hardship was that Paul faced, but whatever it was, it must have been awful. It must have been so difficult and heartbreaking. It must have been a time of great sorrow and unanswered questions. Why? Because of the way he describes it. "We despaired even of life." One translation says (NLT): "We thought we would never live through it." We gave up on living.

That's some hard stuff, isn't it? That's serious. Maybe it was persecution. There were many times throughout Paul's ministry that he faced this. Many times throughout his missionary journeys he was in danger of dying. One time he was taken to the edge of the city and stoned almost to death, but God kept him alive. He'd been whipped, imprisoned, left to die, and constantly on the run from those who wished to kill him. It says he was under great pressure. Can you imagine the stress he must have been under? Or the times he was afraid? Many people believe that Paul suffered from some sort of physical ailment that made serving God difficult. Hense, the "thorn in his side." But what gave him hope in these circumstances? What gave him comfort?