Verse By Verse Devotional On 2 Corinthians By Pastor Jack #6

In ANY Affliction

1:4 "...so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction..."

Notice here that receiving God’s comfort in the midst of a given affliction does not equip you to merely provide comfort for others who are experiencing your same affliction. It equips you to provide comfort for others in WHATEVER affliction they are experiencing. This is important on two counts:

1- A person who has experienced God’s help in the midst of any kind of pain and distress ought to feel able to provide help for others even if he has never experienced the particular struggle the other person is going through. Pain is pain. Pain is common to men. A person who has lost a child can comfort someone who is paralyzed in a car accident, even if he’s never experienced paralysis before. If God has comforted us in our affliction then we are able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves have been comforted by God. That’s what God’s word says. We need to be bold to comfort.

2- A person should never allow himself to indulge in self-pity because there is no one he knows who is experiencing the exact same trials as he is. It is our sinful tendency to think that we are experiencing something different than what anyone else is experiencing, when the Bible tells us that all our trials are "common to man" (1Cor.10:13). When we have troubles , it is important for us always to keep in mind that all God’s people have troubles, some have easier troubles and some more severe troubles. It is wrong to reject another person’s comfort because that person is not experiencing what I’m experiencing. If he has known the comfort of God in the midst of affliction, he can comfort me.

Dear Father, I praise You for all the times You have strengthened me in my struggles. I thank You that in this way You have prepared me to strengthen others in their struggles. Please help me to be bold to offer words and hugs of comfort to those who are suffering afflictions of various kinds even when their struggles are unfamiliar to me. And help me never to refuse the comfort of others that You bring to me in my affliction.