Comfort and Consolation

2 Cor 1:3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 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. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

A man we know recently came to the Lord. He was scraping the bottom of the barrel in his life. His family is breaking apart and there was nowhere else to turn but to the Lord. Amen! This is exactly what we were praying for, that the events in his life would force him to come to Christ.

Alas, his conversion has not yet improved his family situation. I do know this, life is rough, and sometimes even rougher when we trust Christ. A person, not yet born again is no threat to Satan's kingdom. But once they become a child of God, he becomes their sworn enemy and literally, all hell is going to break lose in their life.

However, in the midst of all these problems, a believer never goes it alone. For we know that the God of all comfort, the Father of mercies comforts us in ALL our tribulation. We, then, are able to comfort others with this same comfort.

If I experience a certain set of difficulties in my life and God gives me consolation and comfort, I am expected to minister to another who is going through similar circumstances. That is my plan of attack in working with my friend.

10 times in these verses, some form of the words comfort and consolation is used. We ought to understand the emphasis that as long as the child of God experiences trouble, he can be assured that he will find God's consolation.