Comfort

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 have received from God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4 )

Maybe you are one of those tough people who handles life’s most powerful blows like the whole experience is just another day at the office. Maybe you don’t need encouragement. And you certainly don’t need comfort. Maybe for you, needing comfort is for sissies.

But I doubt it.

Most of us have times in our lives when we need just exactly what the Greek word for “comfort” here really means. We have times when we need someone to come alongside us and walk with us or sit with us and support us.

If you were facing some of the most challenging days of your life, who would you want to be there with you and for you?  Would it be a spouse or a best friend or maybe a parent? What if you could have not one but two people, who would that second person be? Maybe your spouse or one friend could offer one kind of support and the other person could offer another. Think for a moment about how would feel to have them both right there with you.

Human support is great. But think of what it means to have the support of the Father (the originator) of compassion and the God of ALL comfort faithfully working in your life. He certainly uses your friends and fellow disciples, but if he is the God of ALL comfort, he can go even further than that. He can bring all kinds of forces, circumstances, people and powers to your side and into your heart, to support you and walk with you...even through life’s darkest valleys.

To have him is amazing. To think you don’t need him is scary.