The God of All Comfort
Praise be to the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. He is the One who understand comfort and supplies it generously when asked. For Jesus does not promise Christians a comfortable life, but comfort itself. In this life, we will have trouble; Jesus promises it. But we know the One who is comfort, so we can face any pain or tragedy know that His grace is sufficient for us. When we are weak, then He is strong. When we are mourning (something we as Christians should learn to do), only the Lord know how to comfort. But don’t misunderstand comfort for numbness. The pain may not change, but how we use it will. Christ did not die so that his children wouldn’t suffer, but so that their sufferings would be like his. We have the opportunity for our suffering to be used to glorify the Father, to bring peace to others, to demonstrate God’s power and so on. God does not ultimately will for us to be in pain, but he does will for one more beneficial result over another where the process may include suffering. Satan on the other hand would delight to solve our problem by giving us a larger one in its place. All that we go through is designed to teach us holiness, pain included. Those who do not know God seek comfort through material things, but we know the God of all comfort. They seek alleviation from pain and maximization of pleasure, but we see the maximization of glory in pain and alleviation for unsatisfying, illusive pleasure.

Robinson Crusoe
But let’s not ignore the fact that the Lord richly blesses those who ask, according to will and with the right motives (material blessings included). If you’re reading this, you have so much to be thankful for. Think of it like this: simply look around you. How much more thankful would you be for the items in the room that you are sitting if they had been rescued from a ship wreck and washed up on the sure for your use on a stranded island like Robinson Crusoe? That cabinet over there becomes far more valuable when you see it as being saved from destruction and at your immediate use in a strange place. It seems the recognition of any blessing immediately makes one more thankful. And if you can be thankful for drink in your hand or the chair you’re sitting in, how much more thankful will you be for the richer blessings around you? We may have several things that can cause stress and instill pain or fear, but these affliction are certain to fall short of our many blessings. Instead of asking why asking why certain things are going wrong, let’s be thankful that anything at all is going right.

“Gratitude is the twin sister of contentment.” –Gary Black

We are comforted to comfort others
God comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. If you are comfortable, comfort others. If you are blessed, bless others. If you are loved, love others. But really I am just saying “comfort, bless and love others” because God has richly comforted, blessed, and loved us. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for others’ comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for others’ comfort, which produces in them a patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. Our hope is firm because we know that just as people share in our sufferings, so also they share in our comfort. Some of the most joyful people in this world have been through the most tragic and unjust situations. They have gone through the fire and come out, not even smelling of smoke. On Him we set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.


So let’s be thankful. Let’s be content. Let us comfort, bless and love others with the comfort blessings and love we ourselves have received.