To Encourage You

1 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

One of the facts of life that seemingly hits us anew every day is that we live in a fallen world.  It’s tainted. It’s not what it was originally meant to be. The Bible says that the entire Creation, including all people who are a part of it, “groan,” because of this (Romans 8:22-23).  That’s because the entire Creation has experienced the calamity of the Fall.  That’s why there is disease in this world. That’s why there are murders. That’s why people bicker and fight.  It’s why every living thing dies.  It’s why we get frustrated because things so often don’t go as we’d like.  And it doesn’t matter if we are Christians or not. The effect of the Fall touches us all.

I just read this morning that there are an estimated 30,000 Christians suffering in labor camps at this very moment in North Korea.  Their only “crime” is that they love Jesus, and the government hates them for it.  It’s just one more sign that not all is right with the world.  It’s just one more sign of the havoc sin has wreaked.  Yet, in the face of it all, the Christian has great hope because of the wonderful encouragement God has given us in His Word.

One such example is in the verses above.  They tell the believer that God Himself “comforts us in all our affliction.”  That applies to those 30,000 in the Korean labor camps, every single one of them. And it applies to every other believer in this world.  We have this wonderful promise from our Sovereign Creator that He will comfort all of us in all of our afflictions. 

So, how does He do this?  Often it is simply “through the encouragement of the Scriptures (that) we might have hope” (Romans 15:4).  We find comfort in His many promises .  We are reminded that He is always faithful, He knows our every need, and He is with us in the midst of every trial. We are never alone.  We know that just as Romans 8 talks about the groaning of the Creation that we are all subject to, it also tells us that “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). 

At other times God comforts us by way of the presence, the physical help, the listening ear, and perhaps a word from another person in our lives.  This comfort is particularly effective when it comes from another believer who has, in the past, suffered the same type of struggles that we currently face.  That’s exactly what the verses above tell us. However, more than that, it tells us that when we receive comfort from God in our own afflictions that one of the reasons we have those afflictions and the comfort that accompanies them is so that we will be prepared to comfort others with that same comfort at some later time down the road.  Though we may not see it now, we can be assured that God has a purpose in mind for any believer that suffers affliction. He is using that trial in many ways. He may be revealing our own weaknesses just as testing proves the weakness in any physical object.  In so doing He is teaching us to trust Him, no matter what circumstances we may be in.  And He is preparing us to be used by Him in ways that we could have never envisioned in the past. 

We find a perfect example of this in the apostle Peter. Here was one who early on was confident that He would do anything for His Lord.  He boasts to Jesus “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death” (Luke 22:33). But Jesus knew Peter far better than Peter did. He knew that Peter was not ready for the suffering he would later face.  He knew Peter would be tested and that he would fail that test. But it all had a purpose in our loving God’s plan. Listen to what Jesus told Peter as that time of testing loomed: “Simon, Simon (which is another name for Peter), behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-32).  Later, we read of Peter’s failure as he denied his Lord three times.  But then, after His resurrection, Jesus reaches out to Peter to comfort and restore him. And what was the result? Peter was indeed strengthened, and became one who boldly proclaimed the message of the gospel in the face of any future threat.  Not only that, his example and his letters, preserved for us in 1 and 2 Peter, have been an incredible encouragement to believers throughout the last 2,000 years as they deal with the topic of the inevitable suffering of believers – like those in those North Korean prison camps, and like those of us facing suffering of any kind at this very moment right here in the USA. 

May God help us to endure the afflictions of life that are inevitable, for “man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7).  However, for the believer, with that trouble the comfort of God is just as inevitable as God strengthens us for greater service and prepares us to comfort others in their troubles with the comfort that we have received from Him.