Key verse: “Blessed be God,
even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and
the God of all comfort”
(2 Corinthians 1:3).
Lehman
Strauss, a notable preacher of the gospel, was in sharp pain when his
wife, Elsie, had a stroke. They had married for fifty-one years. Three
months after Elsie was afflicted, her brain and body could not function
normally. The stroke left her with brain impairment and paralysis on the
left side of her body. She also had impaired vision, change in the
pitch of her voice and excessive fatigue, among other side effects. In
spite of the affliction and adversity, God comforted him and his wife.
While recalling this experience,
Lehman said: “I knew that we were facing the severest trial in our
fifty-one years of marriage. For 45 of those years, I had been preaching
and teaching the Word of God. Never doubted the truths I was called to
declare, but I must confess that I had never experienced much of what I
preached and taught. There are things that we can learn only through
suffering.
Paul, from our text, spoke about God
of all comfort. Obviously, he was speaking out of his knowledge of God.
He had passed through terrible challenges of life. He had suffered
severe tribulation in Asia that he even despaired of his life. God’s
comfort did not only help him to endure his trials, but it also made him
to receive special blessings. So, Paul’s knowledge of God was
explicitly rewarding.
A believer, who has one affliction or
the other, needs God’s comfort, which is unique, infinite,
inexhaustible, immutable and indestructible. Our afflictions are only
temporary and transient, but God’s comfort is everlasting. Our trials,
however slight or severe, will always receive God’s attention because He
is the Father of mercies. It is God’s mercy that provides our salvation
through Christ. It is also God’s mercy that gives us healing and
deliverance.
Are you afflicted? Are you passing
through adversity? Please come to Jesus the “Author and finisher of our
faith” for succor and comfort.
Thought for today: When
you cannot stand, God will bear you in His arms.m
By Pastor W.F Kumuyi
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