"Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort; 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."
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Part 2
Yesterday:
“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.”
Our God is, “The Father of Mercies,” and “The God of All Comfort.”
Today:
“Who comforteth us in all our tribulation.”
Believer, are you going through challenging troubles? Remember, this truth is for all genuine Christians. The Holy Spirit is with us, and He comforts us.
This word “tribulation” in the very next phrase is translated as “trouble.” It comes from a Greek word that means pressure. In the Latin Vulgate version, the term is pressura, and it comes from the verb that means “to squeeze, to press.”[1] And the Latin word for tribulation means “to thresh.” Just by defining these words, we realize that tribulation and trouble are never a pleasant time for us. These are times of pressure, times of squeezing, and even threshing! But believers take heart because our Comforter is always there in us doing His job in us.
“That we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble.”
We learn much about ourselves, and about our God, as we go through these tribulations. These experiences bring us God’s consolation, and we now can be of help to those in need. We who have been comforted now can comfort others who are in trouble.
“St Paul represents affliction
(1) as a school of sympathy,
(2) as a school of comfort (or rather encouragement),…”
“For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:5).
“(3) as a school of assurance,….—Robertson.”[2]
“Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us” (2 Corinthians 1:10).
“By the comfort wherewith, we ourselves are comforted of God.”
The gifts that our God gives to us are not hoarded by us but shared with others. He gives us comfort, we share compassion with others. Jesus Christ is the most exceptional example of providing comfort to those who needed it.
“… participation in all the afflictions of man peculiarly qualified Jesus to be man’s comforter in all his various afflictions (Isaiah 50:4-6; Hebrews 4:15)”[3] (JFB).
Let us emulate Him as we help others who are going through difficult times.
[1] See the Cambridge Bible, the electronic version in eSword.
[2] Robertson as quoted by the Cambridge Bible, ibid. Verse texts added by me.
[3] Jamison, Fausset, and Brown. Jamison-Fausset-Brown’s Commentary, the electronic version in eSword.