Comfort In All Troubles

Introduction

Joni Eareckson Tada, the well-known Christian author and speaker who became paralyzed in a diving accident in her late teens.

comfort is the key word in this whole passage.

experience of not knowing how to comfort.

the best way is to comfort with God’s Word

Paul shares with the church in Corinth about his real experience of experiencing comfort in struggles.

What kinds of suffering are you enduring today? Troubles (thlipsei, “pressures, distresses”) are mentioned nine times by Paul in this letter (vv. 4 [twice], 8; 2:4; 4:17; 6:4; 7:4; 8:2, 13; sometimes the word is trans. “troubles,” other times “hardships”). Paul also used the corresponding verb thlibō three times in this epistle (“distressed,” 1:6; “hard-pressed,” 4:8; “harassed,” 7:5). Troubles are experienced by all Christians. And the Apostle Paul probably endured more pressures than nearly all his readers. Troubles, Paul said, help Christians shift their perspective from the external and temporal to the internal and eternal. it includes physical, emotional, spiritual troubles.

In what ways do you need God's comfort?

in time of troubles:

Exalt and Exult God’s comfort (v3)

Paul began his letter with a doxology. He certainly could not sing about his circumstances, but he could sing about the God who is in control of all circumstances. Paul had learned that praise is an important factor in achieving victory over discouragement and depression. “Praise changes things” just as much as “Prayer changes things.”

he is th Father of compassion and the God of all comfort (v3). Christian life is full of paradoxed. One of the many paradoxes of the Christian life is that the grace of God is most keenly experienced not in the best but in what seem to be the worst of times. However much a Christian longs for exaltation (cf. 1 Cor. 4:8), it is often in humiliation that he finds grace (cf. 2 Cor. 12:9). That theme pervades this letter and finds poignant expression in Paul’s thanksgiving.

Here is a doxology that affirm that God is worthy of paise for his comfort of all kind. one characteristic of God is tender mercy, a gracious and gentle compassion towrd his children in their creatureliness. Paul describe God as the God of all comfort.

what does that mean when Paul says that? First, God of all comfort can be understood as God who is characterized by comfor of every kind. As a pastor, sometimes we really do not know how to comfort. We hope that we could say a word or do something that bring comfort completely

second, it also means God who is ever ready to comfort and whose consolation never fails us. Have you ever hope to have someone to be always there whenever u need to be comforted? God is the one. It also denote the comprehensiveness of God’s compassion, who gives every possible encouragement. His comfort and compassion is limitless.

Third, it describes God as the one who always comforts, whose nature is to comfort. He is one who constantly comforts us.

this right understanding is very important, because to experience God’s comfort is to have one’s appreciation of God’s character enhanced. When we have a right and deepend understanding on God’s comfort, we are able to experience his limitedless and never failing comfort of every variety.

Praise Him because He is God! You find this phrase “blessed be God” in two other places in the New Testament, in Ephesians 1:3 and 1 Peter 1:3. In Ephesians 1:3 Paul praised God for what He did in the past, when He “chose us in [Christ]” (Eph. 1:4) and blessed us “with all spiritual blessings” (NASB). In 1 Peter 1:3 Peter praised God for future blessings and “a living hope” (NASB). But in 2 Corinthians Paul praised God for present blessings, for what God was accomplishing then and there. During the horrors of the Thirty Years’ War, Pastor Martin Rinkart faithfully served the people in Eilenburg, Saxony. He conducted as many as 40 funerals a day, a total of over 4,000 during his ministry. Yet out of this devastating experience, he wrote a “table grace” for his children which today we use as a hymn of thanksgiving: Now thank we all our God,

With heart and hands and voices,

Who wondrous things hath done,

In whom His world rejoices!

Praise Him because He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! It is because of Jesus Christ that we can call God “Father” and even approach Him as His children. God sees us in His Son and loves us as He loves His Son (John 17:23). We are “beloved of God” (Rom. 1:7) because we are “accepted in the beloved” (Eph. 1:6). Whatever the Father did for Jesus when He was ministering on earth, He is able to do for us today. We are dear to the Father because His Son is dear to Him and we are citizens of “the kingdom of His dear Son [the Son of His love]” (Col. 1:13). We are precious to the Father, and He will see to it that the pressures of life will not destroy us.

Praise Him because He is the Father of mercies! To the Jewish people, the phrase father of means “originator of.” Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44) because lies originated with him. According to Genesis 4:21, Jubal was the father of musical instruments because he originated the pipe and the harp. God is the Father of mercies because all mercy originates with Him and can be secured only from Him. God in His grace gives us what we do not deserve, and in His mercy He does not give us what we do deserve. “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed” (Lam. 3:22). God’s mercy is manifold (Neh. 9:19), tender (Ps. 25:6), and great (Num. 14:19). The Bible frequently speaks of the “multitude of God’s mercies” so inexhaustible is the supply (Pss. 5:7; 51:1; 69:13, 16; 106:7, 45; Lam. 3:32).

Praise Him because He is the God of all comfort! The words comfort or consolation (same root word in the Greek) are repeated ten times in 2 Corinthians 1:1–11. We must not think of comfort in terms of “sympathy,” because sympathy can weaken us instead of strengthen us. God does not pat us on the head and give us a piece of candy or a toy to distract our attention from our troubles. No, He puts strength into our hearts so we can face our trials and triumph over them. Our English word comfort comes from two Latin words meaning “with strength.” The Greek word means “to come alongside and help.” It is the same word used for the Holy Spirit (“the Comforter”) in John 14–16. God can encourage us by His Word and through His Spirit, but sometimes He uses other believers to give us the encouragement we need (2 Cor. 2:7–8; 7:6–7). How wonderful it would be if all of us had the nickname “Barnabas—son of encouragement”! (Acts 4:36)

When you find yourself discouraged because of difficult circumstances, it is easy to look at yourself and your feelings, or to focus on the problems around you. But the first step we must take is to look by faith to the Lord and realize all that God is to us. “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth” (Ps. 121:1–2)

Expect and Experience God’s comfort (v5, 8-10)

How are we to expect and experience God’s comfort? through our suffering and troubles. comfort overflows through Christ (v5). This verse specifies the reason (ὅτι) that suffering or the experience of trouble equipped Paul (δύνασθαι) to mediate God’s comfort. Whenever Christ’s sufferings were multiplied in Paul’s life, God’s comfort was correspondingly multiplied through the ministry of Christ. Paul discerned a divinely ordered correspondence (καθὼς … οὕτως … καί, “just as … to precisely the same extent”) between the intensity of his suffering and the adequacy of God’s comfort. It was precisely because the divine comfort always matched his apostolic suffering.

These sufferings “in” and “for” Christ apparently included both physical afflictions and psychological or spiritual suffering. An obvious example of Paul’s physical suffering would be his stoning at Lystra (Acts 14:19; cf. Gal. 6:17), which arose from Jewish agitation, while the daily pressure of his anxious concern for all the churches (2 Cor. 11:28) illustrates his spiritual suffering for Christ’s sake. That some of his experiences involved both external and internal affliction is clear from his ordeal in Macedonia (ἐν παντὶ θλιβόμενοι), which caused both ἄνεσις of σάρξ and inward φόβοι (7:5). In addition, the case of Epaphroditus suggests that Paul may have included illness that was a direct consequence of engaging in the work of Christ within “the sufferings of Christ.” Paul describes this illness (ἠσθένησεν, Phil. 2:26–27) of Epaphroditus that “very nearly proved fatal” (Phil. 2:27, TCNT) as a brush with death that resulted from his devotion to Christ’s work (διὰ τὸ ἔργον Χριστοῦ, Phil. 2:30) in helping to meet Paul’s needs as an envoy of the Philippian church (Phil. 2:25, 30). But with this said, one must allow that afflictions, whether physical or spiritual, that arise as a result of bearing Christ’s name (cf. 1 Pet. 4:12–14) or testifying to the gospel are the principal referent in τὰ παθήματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ.

In 2 Corinthians itself there are a number of references to the affliction Paul experienced (1:8–10; 4:7–12; 11:23–29). These included the physical hardships, dangers, persecutions and anxieties he experienced as he carried out his apostolic commission.

Paul’s experience of trouble beyond endurance (v8-9)

rely on God (v9-10)

As a primary illustration of his theme (“comfort in affliction”) Paul now informs the Corinthians of the dire nature of his recent brush with death in the province of Asia, an experience so devastating that only through God’s direct intervention was his life spared. The outcome was the surrender of his self-dependence and the realization that further encounters with death awaited him. But if the Corinthians were faithful in their intercession for him, he would continue to enjoy deliverance from death’s clutches. The θλῖψις (trouble) proved so devastating and overwhelming that Paul was forced to renounce all hope of survival (1:8); he felt as if he had had a verdict of “Death” pronounced over his head (1:9). But in the wake of this experience which was tantamount to death there followed a further experience which was tantamount to resurrection (1:10). All this had the effect of undermining Paul’s self-confidence and self-reliance and compelling his utter dependence on a God who raises the dead (1:9; cf. Rom. 4:17) and therefore also rescues the dying (such as Paul in Asia) from the danger of death (cf. Phil. 2:27, 30).

What are the sufferings the Corinthians had? we must admit that we can only guess what the Corinthians’ actual sufferings might have been. It is unlikely that they were of the same nature as those experienced by Paul in the course of his apostolic mission. Allo may be right when he suggests that the afflictions the Corinthians experienced were the conflicts among families and relatives, the painful problems and the small everyday vexations which the practice of the gospel would give rise to on all sides in the midst of a town submerged in paganism and its licentiousness. If so, Paul is recognizing that in such afflictions the Corinthians may be said to be sharing the sufferings of Christ (cf. v. 5; Phil. 1:29–30).

what was the nature of the comfort Paul has experienced? question is not so easily determined. On the one hand, it is true that sometimes the comfort which Paul received was deliverance out of his affliction. In vv. 8–11 he speaks of deliverance from deadly peril, and in 7:5ff., where Paul describes the events immediately preceding the writing of this letter, he speaks of the release from anxiety experienced when Titus rejoined him in Macedonia. It is clear that Paul was not exempt from persecution and affliction because he received comfort from God. The references to affliction in 2 Corinthians which were mentioned above are enough to show that. Nevertheless, it is obvious that up to the time of writing God had delivered Paul out of all his afflictions in the sense that none of them had proved fatal (vv. 8–11; cf. Acts 9:23–25; 14:19–20; 16:19–40). On the other hand, it is equally true that Paul understood comfort in the sense of encouragement and strengthening grace in afflictions. This is evident when Paul, in this verse, explains to his readers one of the positive aspects of Christian suffering.

Embody and Extend God’s comfort (v4, 6)

comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we have received (v4). Paul recognizes that the purpose of his ongoing experience of divine comfort was to equip him to be an agent of God’s bountiful comfort and encouragement to those facing any kind of distress. all our troubles equip us to be channel of comfort for others. illustration: we only know how to best comfort when we ourselves have gone through that same difficulties. In this time of pandemic, we hardly understand the affected families, but could only imagine. But someone who has gone through the same, might be a better channel to comfort.

V4 “For he comforts us in all our distress, so that we may be able to comfort those in any kind of distress.” παράκλησις (comfort) is the controlling concept in vv. 3–7, where this word group occurs ten times. In NT usage the term has three basic meanings: encouragement/exhortation, appeal/request, and comfort/consolation. Throughout 2 Corinthians the “comfort” Paul is depicting is a consolatory strengthening in the face of adversity that affords spiritual refreshment. It is much more than verbal solace or an expression of sympathy. While its source is always God, this comfort sometimes is mediated by fellow believers

We are to encourage and exhort one another.

We are to appeal and request for one another

We are to comfort and console one another.

Like God’s comfort towards us, we are to comfort others constantly, ever readily. Community is not just a place for the suffering to find comfort but for the comfortable to find suffering. Together we join Christ in his suffering, and as a result, as 2 Corinthians 1:4 says, "we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."

Paul experienced distress for his readers’ comfort (v6). Paul’s experience of God’s support in the midst of all the tribulation he actually encountered (articular πᾶς) enabled him to become a channel for God’s support to those who found themselves in any type of distress (anarthrous πᾶς). The apostle regarded his suffering and the experience of divine comfort it prompted not merely as beneficial in his own spiritual life, driving him to trust solely in God (1:19; cf. 12:7), but also as directly benefiting the fellow believers he ministered to. Paul’s suffering of affliction and endurance of trial ultimately benefited the Corinthians in that he was thereby equipped to administer divine encouragement to them when they were afflicted and to ensure their preservation and spiritual well-being when they underwent trial (cf. Eph. 3:13; 2 Tim. 2:10). The apostle then makes explicit what he has assumed (in v. 6a) in arguing from his experience of suffering to their experience of comfort and deliverance, that is, his own receipt of divine comfort in the midst of affliction (“if we are comforted”). Whether he suffered affliction or received comfort, the advantage remained the same for the Corinthians (cf. 4:8–12, 15). They too would know an inner revitalization, an infusion of divine strength that would enable them to endure patiently the same type of trial that confronted Paul.

One human being cannot effect divine deliverance from affliction for another, but it is possible to share with another sufferer the encouragement received in the midst of one’s own afflictions. The testimony of God’s grace in one’s life is a forceful reminder to others of God’s ability and willingness to provide the grace and strength they need. It is this that Paul has in mind when he says to his readers in v. 6 that the comfort he received was ‘for your comfort’. (For unambiguous references to Paul’s being encouraged by God to stand firm in face of reviling, and his being assured that God’s grace is sufficient to enable him to cope with weakness, suffering and persecution, see Acts 18:9–11 and 2 Cor. 12:8–10 respectively.)

Conclusion:

God will not give us more that what we can take it. Paul perceived that one of the divine purposes involved when Christians are plunged into afflictions is to teach dependence on God.

It was when Paul himself faced death that he learnt to rely upon God as the one who raises the dead. Paul already knew that God was the one who had raised Christ from the dead and who would raise up with Christ those who trusted in him (1 Cor. 15:20–23; 1 Thess. 4:13–18). However, he seems to have learnt something more personal through his experience in Asia, i.e. reliance upon God as the one who will raise him from his own personal death.

Greg Zanis is a carpenter from Aurora, Illinois, whose father-in-law taught him the trade. In the process the two became best friends. In 1996 Greg's father-in-law was the victim of a violent crime and died. In an attempt to express his deep grief and personal sense of loss, Greg built an eight-foot wooden cross and planted it at the scene of the crime. But that was only the beginning. Greg began building eight-foot wooden crosses and erecting them at the scenes of fatal crimes or accidents. He constructed the crosses standing in honor of the victims at Columbine High School. What began as a personal response to the loss of human life has become a ministry to help people heal and to remind them that Jesus gives peace and grace. His ministry is called "Crosses for Losses." Zanis builds crosses for families of victims of violent crimes from across the country and then personally delivers the crosses in his pickup truck. To date he has planted hundreds of eight-foot-high crosses