God our Comforter
We would prefer a life without trouble. A life without trouble would mean that we never need to be comforted. God chooses another way: He gives us freedom and when our freedom causes pain to ourselves or others He COMFORTS.What is God's Comfort like?
- It comes from a Father whose Son suffered on the cross. Sometimes it's harder to watch someone you love suffer than to suffer yourself. God understands pain and suffering through a suffering we cannot imagine - the Cross.
- It comes from a God who is the source of all compassion. Whenever we see true compassion in the world, it is just a fingerprint or echo of God's abiding and pervading compassion.
- It is comfort that can survive trouble - it doesn't come in our easy times, it comes in our hard times.
- It is comfort that is effective. So effective that not only will we be comforted, but we will be able to comfort others.
- Whatever we go through, Christ encapsulated it on the cross. It is not trite when we say "Christ knows what we are going through." He experienced the depth and intensity of our pain on Calvary. Our comfort is that we are not alone.
Are you in the grip of great sadness?
Are you weighed down by the suffering you see around you?
We are not alone, abandoned or misunderstood.
Praise be to our Comforting God!
| Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. (2Corinthians1:3-5) |
