The Burden Of AfflictionSample

We receive comfort from God so that we can comfort others. 

Paul observed that God comforts us in the midst of our affliction so that we will be able to comfort others in affliction with the same comfort that we receive from God (2 Corinthians 1:4). 

Frequently, our places of brokenness and affliction become the vehicles whereby God ministers comfort to others in the body of Christ. We become expert healers of a particular type of wound because we received that same wound. We “wounded healers” can thus join with Paul in saying, 

“If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort….” (2 Corinthians 1:6). 

Even for Paul, this season of affliction brought him to the point of being burdened excessively, beyond his strength to the point of being despaired of life (2 Corinthians 1:8). Yet, even under this excessive burden of affliction, Paul could detect God’s hand at work: “We had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:9).  

God will similarly bring us to a place in which our self-sufficiency is broken so that we have to trust in Him and not ourselves. However, we must remember that God is the one who “raises the dead” and is thus a God who can transform all of our afflictions into places of blessing and comfort for others. As we experience this divine, resurrecting comfort, we will join with Paul in blessing God as the Father of all mercies and the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3). 

Are you allowing yourself to be used as a “wounded healer”? Are you comforting others with the comfort you have received? Are you allowing your places of brokenness to be used by God as vehicles of healing and blessing for others?

Looking for more comfort? Click here to download an e-book from Dr. Tony Evans, titled "Joy in Adversity."