I’m not always happy to admit it but I can be an old cynic. Cynic may be too harsh a word for it but I’ll let you decide that. Sometimes God tries to gently move me on but often He has to knock it right out of me. For a while it works but inevitably I fall back on my old ways. Old being the appropriate word.
But today I cannot but marvel at how God moves in mysterious ways. I looked at the verses for this coming Sunday, a sermon that was almost complete, cross my heart, honest gov, and thought, got me again Lord.
Obviously Mothering Sunday is not going to be the same this year but at this time the words of 2 Corintians 1:3-7 ring true for the whole church and hopefully for others who we share our lives with.
2 Corinthians 1:3-7 (CEV)
3 Praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! The Father is a merciful God, who always gives us comfort. 4 He comforts us when we are in trouble, so that we can share that same comfort with others in trouble. 5 We share in the terrible sufferings of Christ, but also in the wonderful comfort he gives. 6 We suffer in the hope that you will be comforted and saved. And because we are comforted, you will also be comforted, as you patiently endure suffering like ours. 7 You never disappoint us. You suffered as much as we did, and we know that you will be comforted as we were.
GOD of comfort
The word comfort appears a lot in these 4 short verses so it’s got to be important right? It is the same word that Jesus uses when he says in John 14:16 “I will pray the Father will give you another Helper,” Or the comforter, the Holy Spirit. Isaiah uses a similar word when he shared with the people of Israel what God had spoken in chapter 66 v13 “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”
We can often be dismissive of how much God really understands about our predicament. And even the smallest of difficulties can divert us away from God when we feel He doesn’t understand. Much like the words spewed from a teenagers mouth when you have offered, in response to a dilemma that they find themselves in, and any reasonable and rational human being would consider it wise advice, the reply inevitably comes back “You just don’t understand” But God does understand whether we realise it or not.
First and foremost Paul is talking about the comfort we get from knowing Jesus Christ. And not just the security that we get from knowing our sins are forgiven and that our hope is in a future heaven with one who now reigns and forever prays for us. No, the comfort is in the here and now. Paul urges the Corinthians to realise that our comfort is in one who understands what it’s like, one who has faced troubles, the one who knows suffering and knows what it is like to live this life of ours. V5 reads We share in the terrible sufferings of Christ, but also in the wonderful comfort he gives. Paul talks about the here and now, not any future time. God does understand the troubles and difficulties we face because He has lived them in Jesus Christ and will comfort us in them all.
We all have testimonies of when we have struggled and we have found it difficult to see where God is in it all, but equally we also have stories of God’s intervention and comforting presence when all seemed bleak. Hold those memories close, thank God for His comfort and don’t keep them to yourself but share them with each other and with friends and family. If you have testimonies you can and would like to share with the church please let me know. I am sure it will be a blessing to everyone to hear God working through us at this difficult time.
We as comforters
Therein lies an important part of these words from Paul. The thread does not end with us. We are able to be comforters because we are comforted.
I know that when Claire and I had children I suddenly realised what a complete ***** (word removed for those of a nervous disposition) I had been as I grew up. It is in the experience that we fully understand the gravity of our behaviour and any situation. You cannot know what it’s like to sky drive without jumping from a plane from 3000 ft with a rucksack on your back (You can probably guess what I think about that idea) and so Paul extols us to offer comfort to others as we are also comforted. That same comfort we receive from God.
Probably a decent enough paraphrase of verse 4 is He comforts us when we are in trouble, so that we can share that same comfort with others in trouble. But we are all able to offer comfort to each other with the same comfort we receive from God. We, in the plural, can be comforters to those around us. Share the comfort many don’t experience.
Faith and trust are vital in this endeavour. We learn to know God’s comfort by seeing it in others to some extent but we have to know it personally before we can offer it. There is nothing new under the sun and even though many an argument with a child of ours is filled with a refusal to believe we could ever know what is going on, each of us, at least, can offer some comfort to one another. Paul says as much when he writes 6 We suffer in the hope that you will be comforted and saved. And because we are comforted, you will also be comforted, as you patiently endure suffering like ours. 7 You never disappoint us. You suffered as much as we did, and we know that you will be comforted as we were. Here again we see that God, in Christ knows, has experienced the same trouble, suffering and difficulties that we experience, so can also offer comfort in the same way we can to others.
Yes in Christ
If you continue to read in Chapter 1 we come to the place where all our faith in this God of comfort hinges. A place where we see that all of this does not rely on us. This is not about how hard we can hope and the fortitude of our faith. But we can hope and have faith in a God who completely understands and comforts us…
20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. 21 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
It is God who enables us all to stand firm in a world that is tossed and thrown from one crisis to another. A world that cannot offer a positive hope in the difficulties we all will face, cannot offer any lasting peace in the face of fear and cannot offer an alternative to the individualistic frenzy we see emerge in the chaos. But He who is trustworthy in all He promises and faithful in all He does is the comforter we have.
Take some time to read these words from Psalm 71 and follow the suggestions below the Psalm.
Psalm 71
1 In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
2 In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me;
turn your ear to me and save me.
3 Be my rock of refuge,
to which I can always go;
give the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel.
5 For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord,
my confidence since my youth.
6 From birth I have relied on you;
you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.
I will ever praise you.
7 I have become a sign to many;
you are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with your praise,
declaring your splendor all day long.
- Get yourself comfortable
- Read the verses out loud.
- Think about what stood out for you. Whether a phrase or a single word.
- Read the verses slowly again and again and take a while to allow God to open up a word or verse for you.
Ask yourself…
- “What does, what stood out for you, tell you about God?”
- “What does that tell you about yourself?”
- “Is there anything else you think God was saying through those verses?”
Pray through what you have learnt and thank God for speaking to you.
God Bless
Jason