Receiving God’s Comfort, #3 Session 3

One of our great needs in grief is comfort. Yet sometimes Christians assume that God’s desire for us to grow through grief means that He doesn’t care about our comfort through grief. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In this session we learn that we serve “the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation.” And we’ll look specifically at how God brings that comfort into our lives.

Goals

At the end of this session, group members should

1. Understand that God cares greatly for them to experience His comfort even as they grow through grief.

2. Recognize that the primary means God uses to comfort us are His Word, His Spirit, and His people.

3. Catch a glimpse of God’s ability to use them to comfort others in the future.

Outline

1. The Person of Comfort

A. The Father of Mercies

B. The God of All Comfort

2. The Provision of Comfort

A. By His Presence

B. By His Word

C. By Others Who Come Alongside

3. The Power of Comfort

A. Endless Comfort

B. Effective Comfort

SESSION 3 Receiving God’s Comfort

When I Am Hurting

2 Corinthians 1:3–7 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

INTRODUCTION

Slide Session Title

How would you describe the word grief?

• Tears?

• Heartache? • Overwhelming sense of loss? • Inability to focus? • Pervasive feelings of sadness? • Gut-wrenching pain? • Emotional numbness? Everyone’s experience of grief is different, but everyone’s need in grief is the same comfort. We need the soothing balm of God’s grace applied to our inner pain. Our English word comfort comes from two Latin words: com, meaning “with or together” and fortis, meaning “strong, mighty; firm, steadfast.”1 Put together, the word means “to equip with strength, to fortify.” When God gives us comfort, it is more than just a pat on the back and saying, “There, there, it will be okay.” It’s not just something to make us feel better. It is a balm to our wound that brings healing as well as strength in our soul that enables us to move forward. This need for comfort in grief is profound—so profound, in fact, that sometimes we’re tempted to look for comfort in destructive or temporary places. Too often, people who are dealing with grief turn to things that actually hurt them in their desire for comfort. • Alcohol • Illicit or inappropriate relationships • Overeating • Excessive entertainment, shopping, exercise, or work • Cutting • Misuse of prescription drugs or using illicit drugs These may provide the temporary relief of numbing, distracting, or comforting one’s loss, but they compound grief with longterm consequences. In contrast, God provides a comfort that is real, sustaining, and strengthening. And it doesn’t just distract from the pain; it brings healing. 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. Second Corinthians is the most personal of Paul’s epistles in the sense that he shares extensive autobiographical details. Multiple times throughout this book he either alludes to or describes suffering and grief he experienced: • Suffering in mind and spirit 2 Corinthians 1:8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: • Suffering of body through pain and danger 2 Corinthians 11:23–27 …in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. 24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. • Suffering through loss of strength and heavy responsibility 2 Corinthians 11:28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. • Suffering through false accusations by those he loved 2 Corinthians 10:10 For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible. • Suffering through unrelenting physical pain 2 Corinthians 12:7–8 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. Obviously, if Paul could testify of God’s comfort in the midst of these burdens, we, too, can experience it “in all our tribulation” (2 Corinthians 1:4). So, what does our text for today’s session tell us about the comfort of God and how we can experience it? 1. The Person of Comfort Slide 1 Paul begins by pointing us to the God who is a constant source of comfort. 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation… The Father of Mercies Slide 1A Sometimes we develop an idea of a God who is aloof from our grief—a God who holds us at arm’s length and leaves us to comfort ourselves with the resources He provided for us. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our God is a tender, merciful Father. Lamentations 3:22–23 It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. Every morning, God has fresh mercy and compassion for us. That’s not always true of others. Anyone who has experienced grief knows the reality of people growing weary of their sorrow over time. At the first moment of grief—whether that be a health diagnosis or the loss of a loved one—others may rush in to help. But as the days, weeks, and months drag on, others tend to forget or to assume the grieving person should “move on.” But God’s compassion for us is as fresh today as it was five months ago. And it will be as real and present in two years as it is today. It’s worth repeating again and again: God’s mercies and His compassion are new every morning. The Father of Mercies The God of All Comfort Slide 1B We have a God who cares for our suffering and personally ministers to our hearts. We don’t just need the sources of comfort He sends; we need Him. All throughout the Bible, God assures us of His personal involvement in our comfort and consolation. 2 Thessalonians 2:16–17 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, 17 Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work. As Jesus prepared for His crucifixion, He spent time with His disciples in the Upper Room. He knew their hearts were heavy. In this conversation, Jesus told His disciples that • One of them (Judas Iscariot) would betray Him before the night was ended. • That He would be crucified and die. • That all of them would forsake Him. • That Peter would deny Him three times. But in the midst of all this tragedy Jesus made known to His disciples, He also promised them comfort. John 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. God cares tenderly for your comfort, and He desires to directly minister that comfort to you. We’ll see in a moment the means that God uses to bring comfort, but it’s important that we remember behind every one of these means is God Himself. 1. The Person of Comfort 2. The Provision of Comfort Slide 2 God doesn’t minimize our pain, and He doesn’t tell us to just buck up and learn to embrace it. In fact, the Bible refers to pain in this passage with the descriptive word tribulation. 2 Corinthians 1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation… Definition: Tribulation, from the Greek word thlipsis, “a pressing together, pressure; metaphorically oppression, affliction, distress.” Slide Tribulum In Bible times, wheat was often threshed with a tribulum—a heavy board with stones and iron attached to it. Harnessed animals would drag the tribulum across the grain, separating the wheat from the chaff. It is from this object that we get our word tribulation. Grief is a type of tribulation, including all the heaviness, pressure, and distress conveyed through the word picture of the tribulum threshing wheat. One of the assurances we have in the reality of God’s comfort is in the accuracy with which Scripture describes our suffering. Words like tribulation assure us that God really does know what we feel, and He really does care to bring comfort to our hearts. So how does God bring this comfort to us? By His Presence Slide 2A Other people don’t always know how to respond to our sorrow and grief, but God draws near to us in our time of need. Psalm 34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. It was God’s nearness that gave the psalmist David the confidence to know he could walk through “the valley of the shadow of death” without fear. Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. And God doesn’t just comfort us from a distance. He indwells us. When we trusted Christ as our Savior, the Holy Spirit came to live within us, and His ministry to us includes that of a resident Comforter. (We’ll look more in depth at the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our grief in week six, but His comfort in our lives is so central that no discussion about how God comforts us would be complete without it.) John 14:16–18 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. The Holy Spirit supernaturally ministers grace to our hearts. To be sure, sometimes other people come alongside us help in this process. Sometimes He uses specific passages of Scripture. But even these methods are incomplete without His presence. His ministry to us is personal and supernatural. Dr. Lee Roberson told the story of a young boy whose mother had died. That first night after her death, the boy, an only child, was in bed with his father. The father told how the son sobbed as if his heart would break. Eventually, the tears died down and the father thought the boy was falling asleep. But then he heard a quivering voice, “Daddy, I want to ask you one more question. Is your face toward me?” “Yes, Son,” the father answered, “my face is toward you.” A few minutes later the boy was asleep. The father got up and looked out the dark window and prayed, “Dear Lord, is Your face toward me? If Your face is toward me, then I can stand the sorrow and can go on.”2 The presence of the Holy Spirit in your life is God’s assurance that His face is always turned toward you. By His Presence By His Word Slide 2B One of the primary ways the Holy Sprit brings comfort to our hearts is through His divinely-inspired Word. Romans 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. We tend to think primarily of God’s comfort in the New Testament. But this verse specifically refers to the comfort we find through the Old Testament—the things “written aforetime.” Think about the wealth of comfort found in the Old Testament: COMFORT FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT 1. Stories of Old Testament Believers As we read through the Old Testament, it is impossible to miss the grief many of the Old Testament believers faced. ▪ Abraham lost his wife and wept (Geneis 23:2) ▪ Isaac lost his mother and was comforted (Geneis 24:67) ▪ Rebekah and Rachel both grieved because of infertility (Geneis 25:21, 30:1) ▪ Jacob believed Joseph had been killed and mourned (Geneis 37:34) ▪ When Jacob died, the grief of his sons was so great that the entire land of Canaan knew it (Geneis 50:11) And that’s just Genesis. We read further and find Job staggering under the combined losses of all of his children, all of his wealth, his own health, and the accusations of his friends (book of Job), David mourning the loss of an infant son (2 Samuel 12:16), Jeremiah lamenting the collapse of his nation (book of Lamentations). Yes, the Old Testament believers knew what it was to experience grief. But these Old Testament believers also knew what it was to experience God’s grace. As we read their stories, we see how God comforted His people, and we learn about the kindness and the love of God through their lives. 2. Psalms It would be impossible to even estimate how many people have found solace in the Psalms through the ages. From psalms of assurance to psalms of lament to psalms of praise to psalms of prayer for justice, these chapters put our emotions into words and bring our hearts back to the truths of who God is. The psalmists express raw sorrow and real hope in God. They teach us that comfort is not found in pretending we feel good or hiding our emotions, but in bringing our grief to the Lord in prayer and placing our trust in God in our times of grief. Psalm 25:1–2 Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul. 2 O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. Psalm 61:1–2 Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. 2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Psalm 62:8 Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah. 3. Pictures of Christ One of the primary purposes of the Old Testament is to reveal Christ. Through every book of the Old Testament, we see Christ revealed. These glimpses of Christ are seen in a variety of ways: the promises of a coming Messiah, the temporary animal sacrifices pointing forward to the Lamb of God yet to come, types and shadows in Old Testament stories (such as David’s adoption of Mephibosheth or Boaz as the kinsman redeemer), and in actual Christophanies when He appeared as the “angel of the LORD.” One aspect of Jesus in the Old Testament is that it all pointed to a God who would suffer for our sins. In fact, as Jesus talked with two disciples after His resurrection, He took them back to the Old Testament and showed them how it all prophesied of Him—and specifically of His suffering. Luke 24:25–27 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: 26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? 27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. The most important aspect of Jesus’ suffering is that His death on the cross provides forgiveness for our sins. But His suffering—and all the foreshadows of it in the Old Testament—also remind us that He understands our grief and cares for us. 4. Promises Through the promises of God—in both the Old and New Testament—we learn exactly who God is and what He has promised to give us in our grief. By keeping those promises that God has used to bring us comfort in the past before our eyes—perhaps on a card on the fridge, a note on the mirror, or on the lock screen on our phone—we keep ourselves near to an essential source of comfort. Workbook Remind your group about the list of “Bible Promises for Grieving Christians” in the back of their workbooks. By His Presence By His Word By Others Who Come Alongside Slide 2C Sometimes we think that needing the support of others is a sign of spiritual weakness. But it’s actually a gift from God. Even Paul mentioned how God used others to comfort him. 2 Corinthians 7:6 Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus; Colossians 4:11 And Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These only are my fellowworkers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me. In the midst of grief, we can be tempted to pull away from others. But we need to maintain contact with those brothers and sisters in Christ who come alongside us with the comfort of Christ. (In session 10, we’ll look more specifically at how God provides comfort through a church family.) One way God uses others to bring comfort is through our shared faith and hope in Christ. Romans 1:12 That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. Colossians 2:2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; Think of what this shared faith would have meant for first-century believers who endured grief specifically because of their faith. Many of the losses they experienced, including deaths of family members, were due to extreme persecution. These believers needed others to reassure them that their faith in Christ was not in vain. They needed brothers and sisters in Christ to bolster their faith. You and I need this as well. We need fellow Christians whose physical presence and ongoing prayers remind us of the unseen presence and continual compassion of Christ. We need friends who remind us of the eternal promises of God and whose hearts are knit with ours in shared faith and hope. In all of these ways—and more—God gives us comfort in grief. And in God’s amazing kindness, the comfort He gives us reaches beyond our own hearts and immediate experiences to comfort the lives of others as well. 1. The Person of Comfort 2. The Provision of Comfort 3. The Power of Comfort Slide 3 The comfort of God is not just something we receive; it is also something we carry. 2 Corinthians 1:4–5 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. If you are in the early stages of grief, the thought of helping others may feel overwhelming. That’s normal. God opens these opportunities after He has sufficiently comforted and prepared your heart. This verse then is not pressure to comfort others, but encouragement that some day you will be able to. Knowing that God can use the comfort He gives us to bring His comfort to other hearts is its own source of purpose and hope. As we absorb the comfort of God, we can reach out to others with this same consolation. Suffering deepens our empathy and expands our capacity for comforting others. The Bible tells us to share with others in their joys and sorrows. But until we have suffered greatly, it’s hard to do that effectively. Romans 12:15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. A little girl came home from a neighbor’s house where her little friend had died. “Why did you go?” questioned her father. “To comfort her mother,” said the child. “What could you do to comfort her?” “I climbed into her lap and cried with her.” Paul had learned through his afflictions and sufferings that God would comfort him, now he could be the conduit through which God could comfort others. When we have suffered and experienced the comfort of God, we can help bring His comfort to others. Endless Comfort Slide 3A Sharing God’s comfort with others doesn’t exhaust our supply of comfort. Verse 5 of 2 Corinthians 1 tells us, “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.” That word abound is significant. Definition: Abound, “to over flow, to be at hand in abundance.” There are many things we want to have in abundance, but suffering is never one of them. Yet, there are seasons when our sorrows overflow. Sometimes suffering, trials, and grief come one on top of another, with barely enough lapse between them to catch our breath. Yet, as constant and heavy as the trials may be, so there is an overflowing, abundant supply of God’s comfort and consolation in that time of need. God’s grace has the power to sustain us in what may seem the most unbearable afflictions. Paul experienced this sufficient, unending grace in his ongoing affliction of a “thorn in the flesh.” After he pled with God to remove this painful source of affliction, God answered: 2 Corinthians 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. The provision of God’s grace is endless. It is available to us in proportion to our need. As our afflictions abound, so God’s gracious comfort abounds. There will never be a trial, affliction, or suffering in the life of God’s child for which He will not provide His comfort. Endless Comfort Effective Comfort Slide 3B The comfort that God gives us is effective in our lives, and then it is effective to reach others through us. 2 Corinthians 1:6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. Once again, we see a specifically-accurate description of suffering and grief in this verse by the word choice afflicted. Definition: Afflicted, from Greek thlibo, “to press (as grapes), pressure like being squeezed together. Grief feels crushing. Only God’s grace can provide the comfort that sustains through these seasons of extreme pressure on our minds, emotions, and bodies. And in this verse, God assures us that He not only sustains us, but He can work through us in two ways: the salvation and sanctification of others. 1) FOR THE SALVATION OF OTHERS Suggestion Acts 16–18 records some of the great trials Paul had leading up to and during his time in Corinth. You might read through these chapters before teaching this session for additional background and understanding of the trials Paul endured and the comfort he received. As Paul tells the Corinthian church that his affliction was for their “consolation and salvation,” he was referring to the suffering he had endured leading up to and in the city of Corinth as he came there to preach the gospel. His point was not that his own suffering provided salvation to others, but that the sustaining hand of God in his life through suffering had been instrumental in him bringing the gospel to the city of Corinth. In turn, his preaching resulted in the Corinthians trusting Christ. It is often in the midst of our affliction that God opens doors for us to share the gospel with others. Dr. R. B. Ouellette, who pastored the First Baptist Church in Bridgeport, Michigan, for over forty years, was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2018. During his chemo and radiation treatments, he found that he was meeting hundreds of other people, from medical staff to fellow cancer patients. He and his wife brought a box of chocolates and stack of gospel tracts with them each day to the treatment center. They offered each of the medical staff a chocolate and a tract. Almost everyone took both. The opportunities to actually go through the plan of salvation with people were limited, since he was not usually around any single patient or hospital employee for more than a few minutes at a time. But he wrote about one fellow patient, originally from Iraq, who listened to the gospel and trusted Christ. In writing about this experience, Pastor Ouellette shared, “A couple of weeks later I ran into him again. He said to me, ‘How do these other people do this? We have Jesus!’”3 Because Pastor Ouellette shared the comfort of God in the gospel, this man experienced the comfort of God in salvation. Paul himself had experienced a direct line between suffering and a gospel opportunity in the city of Philippi—which was just a few stops before he arrived in Corinth. There in Philippi, Paul and Silas were arrested for preaching the gospel, publicly beaten, and placed in stocks in the dungeon. But it was through this experience, as Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God at midnight, that God miraculously loosed their chains and opened the prison doors. And, ultimately, it was this experience that gave them the opportunity to share the gospel with the jailor. The jailor and his entire family trusted Christ that night. Acts 16:27, 30–33 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. … 30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. 32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. The Corinthian church benefited from Paul’s suffering in that God’s comfort kept Paul going through all of the trials that eventually brought him to Corinth. 2) FOR THE SANCTIFICATION OF OTHERS God’s comfort for Paul wasn’t only effective for the salvation of the Corinthians; it was effective for their sanctification as well. We noted in session 2 that sanctification—becoming more like Christ through spiritual maturity—is the goal of our growth through grief and trials. And in God’s great providence, He is able to use our trials not only for our own sanctification, but also for the sanctification of others. This is what Paul referred to in verse 7. 2 Corinthians 1:7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. Paul’s hope for the Corinthian believers was for their growth. It was that as they would partake in the sufferings of Christ, they would also know His comfort. This was his goal for every church which he had planted. Philippians 1:6–7 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: 7 Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. It is amazing to consider that God can comfort us so deeply, so effectively, that it spreads to others as well. Sometimes this ability to comfort others takes form in encountering people who are going through the same trials we have endured. Douglas Maurer, 15, of Creve Coeur, Missouri, had been feeling ill for several days. His temperature was ranging between 103 and 105 degrees, and he was suffering from severe flu-like symptoms. Finally, his mother took him to the hospital in St. Louis. Douglas Maurer was diagnosed as having leukemia. The doctors told him in frank terms about his disease. They said that for the next three years, he would have to undergo chemotherapy. They didn’t sugarcoat the side effects. They told Douglas he would go bald and that his body would most likely bloat. Upon learning this, he went into a deep depression. His aunt called a floral shop to send Douglas an arrangement of flowers. She told the clerk that it was for her teenage nephew who had leukemia. When the flowers arrived at the hospital, they were beautiful. Douglas read the card from his aunt. Then he saw a second card. It said: “Douglas—I took your order. I work at Brix florist. I had leukemia when I was 7 years old. I’m 22 years old now. Good luck. My heart goes out to you. Sincerely, Laura Bradley.” His face lit up. He said, “Oh!” It’s funny: Douglas Maurer was in a hospital filled with millions of dollars of the most sophisticated medical equipment. He was being treated by expert doctors and nurses with medical training totaling in the hundreds of years. But it was a salesclerk in a flower shop, a woman making $170 a week, who—by taking the time to care, and by being willing to go with what her heart told her to do—gave Douglas hope and the will to carry on.4 As wonderful as it is to be able to comfort others who are experiencing the difficulties which we have experienced, there’s more. When we receive God’s comfort, He enables us to comfort those who are going through any trouble—not just the same ones we have experienced.

2 Corinthians 1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

This is because God’s comfort works in our hearts for our growth and sanctification. As we grow through grief, we then become ministers of God’s grace—not just sharers of our experiences, but ministers of His grace and comfort—to others.

CONCLUSION If we could have life our way, we would never have need of God’s comfort. That is because we would never experience grief, sorrow, pain, or loss. We would live a life that is comfortable. Slide Comfortable vs. Comfort But when God allows grief into our lives, He removes our dreams of being comfortable and instead gives us a resource of divine comfort. Although being comfortable may seem preferable, experiencing God’s comfort is a richer, deeper gift of God’s grace than we ever dreamed imaginable. This gift is so rich that we can’t keep it to ourselves. Over time, and through the divine providences of God, we find it spills over to the lives of others who are also in need of comfort. So, as you are grieving, remember to open your heart to the comfort that only God can give.

Slide Summary

1. The Person of Comfort: Do you know Jesus as your personal Savior? If not, you can today. If you do, you have the Holy Spirit directly, personally ministering the comfort of God to you.

2. The Provision of Comfort: God comforts us by His Word, His Spirit, and His people. Are you exposing yourself to these sources of comfort? Turn to His Word, drink deeply of the Psalms and of God’s promises. And stay engaged with your church family.

3. The Power of Comfort: Be encouraged in knowing that the comfort God is giving you today will extend to others as well. And be responsive to His promptings to share His comfort with others as He gives you grace and allows opportunity. Suggestion If there are guests in your group or people who may be unsaved, offer to personally talk afterward with them about what it means to know Christ as a personal Savior. Thank God that He is “the God of all comfort”—to you and, eventually, through you.

GROUP DISCUSSION

Discussion Tip Depending on the size of your group, you might want to split into smaller groups of seven or eight for the discussion questions. You could then close the discussion time by posing the questions to the full room, inviting a spokesperson from various groups to share highlights from their answers. 1. Was there anything from last week’s devotionals or application exercises that was particularly meaningful or helpful to you? What passage of Scripture has been most reassuring to you this past week? 2. In those times when your grief has felt crushing, how has God brought comfort to you? 3. What have people said or done to comfort you that was helpful? What has perhaps been well-intentioned but unhelpful? 4. What is your favorite Psalm or verse from Psalms? What about it is comforting to you? 5. What is one way the group can pray for you as it relates to grief this week? (A prayer request section is included at the end of this workbook so you can record the requests of other group members.)

Chappell, Paul. Growing through Grief: How to Continue through Christ (Leader Guide) (pp. 71-99). Striving Together Publications. Kindle Edition.

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