Comfort in Suffering

This post comes a bit late. God spoke to me to post this on my blog earlier, but I delayed till now. Of course I have no excuse, that I must admit. But anyway as I always say, better late than never.

While reading the Daily Bread on Tuesday, September 8 2009, I saw this article titled "Comforted to Comfort". For those who do not have the Daily Bread, I will post the article here.

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Comforted To Comfort
READ: 2 Corinthians 1:3-11

[God] comforts us . . . that we may be able to comfort [others] with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. —2 Corinthians 1:4

While speaking to a group of Christian athletes, I asked them how they normally responded to hardships. Their responses included fear, anger, self-pity, aggression, despair, abusive behavior, apathy, and turning to God. I encouraged them to trust that God would comfort them and then use them to comfort others.

Just as I encouraged those athletes, Paul encouraged a group of believers in a town called Corinth. He reminded them that afflictions were inevitable for the follower of Jesus. Many were being persecuted, imprisoned, and oppressed—all because of their relationship with Jesus. Paul wanted the Corinthians to know that in the midst of their trouble God was their source of help. He would come to their side and help them to have godly responses. Then Paul gave one of the reasons God allowed suffering and brought divine comfort—so that the Corinthians might have the empathy to enter into other people’s sorrow and comfort them (2 Cor. 1:4).

When we suffer, let us remember that God will bring comfort to us through His Word, by the Holy Spirit, and through fellow believers. God does not comfort us so that we’ll be comfortable; we are comforted by God so that we might be comforters. — Marvin Williams

When you receive God’s comfort,
Be sure to pass it on,
Then give to God the glory
From whom the comfort’s drawn. —Hess

When God permits trials, He also provides comfort.

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Anyway, it is true that when we undergo suffering, the purpose of it is to experience it first hand so we can better relate to others who undergo the same plight. This is really applicable to me this year, where I suffered a lot, and I think in some cases it was unjustified suffering. Nonetheless, I was able to see the unfairness of life first hand, and thus I can empathize with others better. Perhaps this is why empathy is one of my strongest traits, but it is God given, and probably I would not have been able to be a source of comfort to others without God first being a source of comfort to me.

And besides, guess who suffered the pain of being human, all the limitations and the harsh reality of life?

The answer is of course staring at us right in the face (maybe even literally), and yet we do not realise. God came down to earth in human form as Jesus Christ. You all probably know what happened where He suffered unjustly. Remember, He commited NO SIN.

And yes, I guess we have no reason to say that God does not understand our plight, He has been through many times worse. He undergone so much stress till the blood came out with His sweat, He got whipped by the cat with nine tails, He undergone so much humiliation while His best friend denied Him thrice. He wore a crown of thorns which pierced His skull into the pain sensors at the cerebral hemiispheres. He bore the cross full of splinters up a long long mountain slope on His already wounded and bloody back. He struggled for breath on the cross just so we can breathe freely.

All this He did for us to live and enter heaven...while all of us remain ungrateful and continue neglecting Him.

To think I had the cheek to call myself a second priority to others, when I have not even placed God as my second priority. I am really a wicked sinner...Time to make a change in my life. And others should follow suit too.

Anyway, I guess now it's quite a good thing that I've had so many horrible experiences. Yes, even to be treated as a second priority, I know how others are going through.

And I am really comforted to know that God had been (and still is) going through being neglected by those He cares about, and that since Jesus had gone through the painful experience of being neglected on earth and still managed to pull through...

then it is possible for us. All we have to do is make God the number one source of happiness.

Gee, I must admit I've been going on and on about everything rather than focusing on just one thing. But hey, that's the beauty of God's love, He focuses on everything...all aspects of life and creation.

To care about you while keeping the galaxies in their place...it says a lot about our God.

Objectively speaking, He is good!