Tuesday, July 29, 2025

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

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 key word in this passage is “comfort.” We would like to think that when we are faced with problems, praying to God will make the problems go away. But that just isn’t so, at least according to Paul’s statement to the members of the church of Corinth. In passages 3 and 4, the word comfort is used as a noun twice and a verb twice. According to Merriam-Webster, comfort as a verb means to 1: give strength and hope to: cheer; 2: to ease the grief or trouble of: console. So, Paul is not saying that God will solve our troubles. He will give us strength and ease our problems. But notice that in passage 4, he suggests the “we can comfort those!” He has put the onus on ‘us’ to comfort others. Isn’t that what we try to do when we are aware that someone is hurting for some reason. We may not even know the reason; we just know our friend is hurting! As a noun, comfort means 1. Strengthening aid, assistance, support; 2. A feeling of relief or encouragement, contented well-being. Often prayers will help us weather the storm. That is the way we talk to God. God can be a good listener and sometimes that is all we need to feel better. Does prayer always work to heal our wounds? Of course not, but it usually gives us hope that better days are ahead! Remember God may not answer a prayer in the way we expect. When we help others, we are doing God’s work here on earth! If helping others does not make you feel better and others too, you are very unusual! And sometimes prayers work in unusual ways, ways that we don’t expect. We need to be alert so that we recognize a gift from our prayers!

Questions for Reflection:

• When you pray, do you expect that God will grant just what you have prayed for? If so, do you lose faith when your prayers are not answered in the way you expect?
• Do you try to help others through good and bad times? When you help others, do you feel good?

Prayer:

Dear Lord, help me recognize when my friends and even people whom I do not know need help, and give me the courage to provide that help. Furthermore, please give me the courage to pray for your help with my own problems. In Jesus name I pray. Amen

PrayerCourage