Comforting

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God(2 Corinthians 1:3-4, NIV).

The verse above is one of my favorites, as it reminds me of my responsibility to others. When I see someone who is hurting, I tend to want to help them right away by offering comfort or advice. Over the years I have learned that there are some who reject comfort, I know it might sound strange, but believe me I have seen it happen.

I’ m not sure, but maybe it is because they are too self reliant, or proud and think they can handle whatever pain they are feeling. Or maybe they don’t want to appear weak, so they lie about being hurt, keeping all their emotions bottled up inside. For whatever reason, it just is difficult for me to understand. When I am feeling hurt, I cry. Or I might raise my voice, or I might withdraw, I might even ask for help and tell others I am hurting.

From the verse above from the apostle Paul, we understand that God is our ultimate comforter. He comforts us in our pain and suffering. And as the verse goes on to say, it is so we might understand others who are hurting and offer comfort. God gives us the example we are to follow.

Compassion and mercy shown to others, is not always easy for some people. They can be too concerned with themselves to offer anything to anyone else. I find this pretty sad. But, I do believe that God tries to work on those people to teach them compassion and mercy, it just might take them a little longer to finally get God’s lesson.

But, if we can focus on the first part of that verse, it says we are to praise God. Why? because He is the God of compassion and the God of ALL comfort. If we stop and think about it for a moment, maybe we will think back to times when God comforted us. It might have been through a friend or a kind word from a stranger, or just a sense of peace from God that floods into our soul at the right moment. We should stop and praise God for who He is and what He does in comforting us.

When we fully understand what has happened to us, maybe then we will get it. We will be motivated to comfort others from a place of thankfulness and gratitude to God. When we know we have received comfort we can openly share that comfort with others. Stop and meditate on the verse above, until it begins to sink in, and then ask God for opportunities to share in God’s comfort to a hurting world around us. -God Bless You – Nancy