The God of All Comfort, Part 1

2 Corinthians 1v3-4

7^th February 2025

2 Corinthians 1v3-4
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

Paul had planted the church in Corinth, and he loved it dearly. Some time later, he spent three years in Ephesus, where he experienced wonderful spiritual power:

Acts 19v11-12
God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

Wow!

He also experienced great opposition at that time. He underwent various trials, to the point of thinking he was going to die. In 1 Corinthians 15v32 he wrote that he "fought wild beasts in Ephesus". That might be literally true or it might be figurative but, either way, it mus have been terrifying. He and his colleagues were "under great pressure, far beyond [their] ability to endure" (2 Corinthians 1v8). Also while he was in Ephesus, messengers came from Corinth, telling him that the state of the church there, and their relationship with him, had deteriorated. They’d criticised his ministry, and he feared they might fall into heresy.

Paul writes about his afflictions and his distress very early in this letter. He doesn’t do that in any other letter. It shows his emotional vulnerability, frailty, pain, loneliness and sorrow. Our leaders are fragile, too.

He begins, though, by praising God: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" and he gives thanks that God is "the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort". A typical British person sees God as either non-existent, or remote and uninterested, or angry and judgemental. But we know that God is full of compassion:

Lamentations 3v22-23
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

The Greek word for "comfort" Paul uses here is paraklesis, which is related to the word paraclete, the name Jesus gives to the Holy Spirit in John Chapters 14, 15 and 16. It’s translated differently in different English versions, as "comforter", "counsellor", "helper", or "advocate". It really means "one who comes alongside". God comforts us by sending the Holy Spirit to be alongside us. In the midst of your sorrow and pain, the Holy Spirit is right there next to you.

Paul writes that God comforts us in all our troubles. God doesn’t always prevent troubles happening. He allows troubles for His own reasons, which we often don’t understand, but He comes alongside us and comforts us in our troubles.

Some Christians sometimes dare to blame God for their troubles, and get angry with Him. They put distance between themselves and the God who wants to come alongside them. Of course, they tend to cut themselves off from His compassions when they do this. Being unforgiving towards God because you think He’s not compassionate enough, is the one thing that that can stop you experiencing His compassion.

But if we’ll accept the troubles that come, refuse to blame God, and instead ask Him for help, comfort and advice during our troubles, then He will answer our prayers. He may not take the troubles away, but He will walk with us through our troubles.

Paul knew a lot about this. He was in trouble throughout his ministry. I know something about it as well. When I was 48, I fell into deep, suicidal depression. But God was there beside me all the time. I saw a psychiatrist, who sent me to the Priory Clinic. While I was there, the other patients seriously doubted I was depressed at all. They couldn’t understand that God’s comfort was so real to me that I could smile and laugh, even when suicidally depressed.

I give thanks to God that He is my comforter in my troubles. I probably wouldn’t be here now if He wasn’t. I can testify that no matter what’s happening, if you look for God you’ll find Him. If you criticize God you won’t.

Suffering is always with us on the earth, and God’s comfort is always there for us, if we’ll receive it. If we wait for a time when we and our families and friends are free from troubles, we’ll wait till the day we die. Would it not be better to stop looking for the absence of pain, and concentrate on seeking the presence of comfort?

Paul continues by saying that God comforts us

2 Corinthians 1v4
…so that we can comfort those in any trouble [or affliction] with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

God is training us to help others by putting us through experiences that will enable us to relate to their problems and pain. There’s no doubt that we’re better equipped to comfort others if we’ve experienced similar troubles or afflictions. Alcoholics Anonymous encourage recovering alcoholics to mentor people who need help. They know what it’s like to be an alcoholic and so can help in ways that I can’t. Abused women can be comforted by other women who’ve been abused and survived, because they know what it’s like. Parents who’ve lost a child can be comforted by other parents who’ve lost a child, because they understand.

Older people might have something to say that would help young parents deal with the difficult aspects of raising children, because they’ve been through it. A pastor who hasn’t experienced pain and sorrow can’t possibly look after God’s people. He needs experience. That’s one reason why our leaders are called elders, not youngsters. You can’t help people in profound distress if you’ve never experienced profound distress.

The troubles, stresses and hurts that beset us are sent by God to shape our character. They make us more humble. They teach us to trust God, and to look to Him for strength and guidance, for the ability to forgive, for patience. We can look back and see how we’ve been changed by our troubles. We can even get to the point where we can give thanks for them. And we can tell younger Christians that we’ve proved in our own lives that these things do make us better people, if we’ll respond rightly to them.

God helps us both by His Holy Spirit and through His holy people, the church. All Christians are called to comfort our brothers and sisters, although some us some are better at it than others. We're not all called to be pastors or counsellors, but we are all called to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice (Romans 12v15). We can all listen patiently and kindly. We can all respond, and pray for anybody who needs it. If only we could understand how valuable that is! (Sometimes, though, we may need to encourage people to seek help from those more skilled or knowledgeable than ourselves)

We comfort each other not only by those in-depth conversations we sometimes have about pain and sorrow, but in everyday Christian living. We comfort each other by worshipping together, breaking bread together, studying the Bible together, helping each other, making coffee for each other, buying coffee for each other. Many times I’ve come to church feeling pretty wretched, but the love of my brothers and sisters, and the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the sung worship, and the preached word of God, have lifted me out of sorrow and into joy. Not every time, but usually. My fellow Christians comfort me just be being in church and singing to Jesus with me. Being together, worshipping together, is a comfort. That’s one reason why God puts us in churches.

We Christians don't just have experience of trouble; we have experience of God's comfort in trouble.