Bible Reading: Exodus 13; Job 31; Luke 16; 2 Corinthians 1
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 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.
Do you bless the Lord? Here Paul blesses God and declares him to be the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. What a wonderful name of God!
Lamentations 3:22-23 It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
We are the recipients of God's mercies and of his comfort. The word translated comfort here is from the same word that is used to describe the Holy Ghost. He is the Comforter. Jesus said:
John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.
If we are a follower of Christ, we will NEVER be without the Comforter. Our God is the God of all comfort. What is comfort? It means to come alongside during a time of grief or calamity to give advice and to encourage. So the Bible tells us that God comforts us in all our tribulation. If we know God, there is never a difficulty that he is not with us to encourage and exhort during the trial. Not only that but he is the God of ALL comfort who comforts us in ALL our tribulations. God has ALL that we need. Do you believe this? Do you go to him in times of difficulty? Do you receive the comfort that he has for you?
Unfortunately, many think that they need the comfort of secular psychology or counseling when difficulties come. God has all that we need.
But that comfort does not stop there. When we have received the comfort from God we then are able to comfort others with what we have received from him. We are not reservoirs of God's comfort but conduits! God ministers to us so that we can minister to others with God's mercy and comfort! God turns our trials into training grounds to make us compassionate ministers of mercy.
Never let the trials of life get you down and put you out. Let them be times when God's Word is fulfilled in your life:
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
God can cause a horrible trial to work together for good as you receive God's comfort and then minister that same comfort to someone else in the midst of a trial. Don't waste your tribulations. Go to the God of all comfort and then pass that comfort on.
In Christ,
Rody
