GOD OF COMFORT

2 Corinthians 1:3 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort.”

It was flooding in California. As the flood waters were raising, a man was on the stoop of his house and another man in a row boat came by. The man in the row boat told the man on the stoop to get in and he’d save him. The man on the stoop said, no, he had faith in God and would wait for God to save him. The flood waters kept rising and the man had to go to the second floor of his house. A man in a motor boat came by and told the man in the house to get in because he had come to rescue him. The man in the house said no thank you. He had perfect faith in God and would wait for God to save him. The flood waters kept rising. Pretty soon they were up to the man’s roof and he got out on the roof. A helicopter then came by, lowered a rope and the pilot shouted down in the man in the house to climb up the rope because the helicopter had come to rescue him. The man in the house wouldn’t get in. He told the pilot that he had faith in God and would wait for God to rescue him. The flood waters kept rising and the man in the house drowned. When he got to heaven, he asked God where he went wrong. He told God that he had perfect faith in God, but God had let him drown. "What more do you want from me?" asked God. "I sent you two boats and a helicopter."

Many people deal with unresolved hurt. Pain in their lives over something that is still lingering. Maybe it is the loss of a loved one. Maybe a broken relationship. Maybe a failure in the workplace or a moral failure in their life. Maybe it is a recent hurt, or a distant hurt, but one thing is certain—unless hurts are dealt with, they will haunt us for the rest of our life. When we let the hurt linger, we open the door to resentment—resentment toward others, ourselves, even God. And instead of dealing with the hurt immediately, we hide it away, and never deal with it, and live lives of regret, resentment, and remorse.

The problem comes when we try and resolve hurts in ways other than God intended. Some people try and resolve their hurts in things. Sometimes it’s alcohol, sometimes it’s cigarettes, sometimes it’s drugs. Sometimes it is in shopping—you know, go on a shopping binge. Sometimes, it’s a cleaning binge. You know, you get so mad, you’ve just gotta clean something. Or maybe it’s a drive, or a golf outing, or all kinds of different things. But when you try and substitute your own method of resolving hurts, you will never resolve them, only postpone them.

God offers us the promise that you never have to deal with it by ourselves. In fact, you were never meant to. Our scripture shows us how to deal with the hurts in our lives—how God wants us to deal with the hurts.

The word comfort is 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.”

The greatest comfort you can have in life is knowing that you never face it alone. You may be in the darkest of valleys; abandoned by everyone else; nowhere else to turn, all hope lost, but you will never be alone. God is the God of all comfort – turn to him.