The God of All Comfort

"Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 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." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

For this word ‘comfort’ the Amplified Bible adds consolation and encouragement.  When we think of comfort we normally think of making someone comfortable.  And many times when we try and comfort other people we take the approach of making them as comfortable as possible while they bear the situation they are in.  But we should take heed to what kind of comfort we are offering people.  Is the ‘comfort’ we are offering really going to help them?  If someone had a large thorn stuck in their foot would you have them sit there with their foot up and try to ease the pain as much as possible and tell them to hang on and do the best they can or would you get the thorn out of there and then comfort them while they heal?  If it were me, I’d rather get the thorn out of there!

According to the Strong’s Concordance, this word for comfort means to call near, invite, and invoke by imploration or consolation.  There seems to be more of an idea of encouraging someone in the sense of coaching them or moving them to action rather then just making them comfortable while they stay where they are.  Jesus called the Holy Spirit our Comforter.  How does the Holy Spirit comfort us?  Jesus said He would teach us all things and remind us of everything Jesus said to us (John 14:26).  The Holy Spirit encourages us and coaches us with the Word of God.  He is the Spirit of truth and He encourages us to become doers of the Word of God so that the Word can work in our life to bring the deliverance we need.

Deliverance is the best comforter of all don’t you agree?  Getting that thorn out of your foot is the best comfort you could have.  No matter how much someone pats you on the back and tells you about the thorn in their foot, that kind of ‘comfort’ isn’t anywhere near as good as getting the thorn out!  And that’s what the Word of God does for us.  That’s what putting faith in God’s Word will do for us.  We need to be encouraging each other to do what the Word says.  We need to exhort one another daily as it says in Hebrews 3:13 and encourage each other to stick with God’s Word and not let up when times are tough.  That’s the kind of encouragement and comfort we need!

Notice in 2 Corinthians that it says we receive comfort from God during our times of trouble and by that comfort we receive from Him we are able to comfort others with that same comfort.  The first mistake many people make when going through a rough time is that they seek comfort from people rather than from God.  We need to begin to see ourselves as the one who receives comfort (and deliverance) from God directly and is able to comfort (and deliver) others rather than seeing ourselves as the one who is always receiving comfort from people.  When we learn to receive from God ourselves then we can be a blessing to others and exhort them and encourage them as they learn to receive from God also.  This is the kind of maturity the Lord desires His body to come into and this is the kind of comfort the world is longing to see.