Navigating UncertaintySample

Comfort

The presence of Christ in our lives is not a guarantee for the absence of heartache. Trouble will cross our paths from time to time. Paul describes two kinds of people and their God.

Let's start with Paul's picture of God: God the Father is compassionate and ready to comfort. His comfort is real and revitalizing. It enables us to pick ourselves up and not only keep going but help those who are, in turn, in need of comfort. He sends comfort to people through other people.

He can do this because He is the Father of our Lord Jesus!

He sent His Son into our midst to share in our sufferings to experience our humanity. Just as Jesus comforted Mary and Martha at the tomb of Lazarus and as He wept with them, He comforts and weeps with us. The Father's sacrifice of his Son is the extent of His desire to be near and comfort us. The Son experienced separation from the Father so that we never have to.

Now we get to the two kinds of people Paul refers to, and we could be either:

We could be those in need of comfort - in which case we need to draw near to a strong gracious Father who will help us through our trouble and help us to keep going. We also need to be humble enough to accept that God may send another person through whom He will help us.

We can also be people who have received comfort and can comfort others. If this is the case, let's be caring, sensitive, and God-revealing.