God of All Comfort

By Perry C. Brown

For those of us who hurt, the Apostle Paul made an absolutely stunning statement in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Who are those who can best lend solace and comfort to those who are hurting? Those who themselves have been hurt and know the loss and feel the pain. Especially those who have leaned on the Lord for comfort in their pain can then become God’s ambassadors of comfort to the wounded and distressed.

Christians are afflicted not to discourage them but to empower them to minister to others who are mired in affliction, too.

The Why of Pain

Make no mistake: Christians feel pain as acutely as anyone, and if we understand Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 we understand why. We suffer that we may console the suffering. We hurt that we may salve the wounds of the wounded. Even though we know the King and Savior of the world, we may still ache and wonder how anyone could get through this pain without Him. And precisely then we understand that many in such pain don’t know Him, and we are compelled to comfort the afflicted.

Christ Himself was first afflicted for our sake. He is no casual observer to the agonies of human life. He lived them. His agonies led Him to a cross, then to death, and then to resurrection. He above all can attest that when we “humble under the mighty hand of God” His purpose is that “He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7). Of course there is anxiety. Of course there is pain. They were companions of even our Lord Himself. Would we rationally expect any different for us? And because of His pain He now comforts us as we lean on Him, and because of Him we are called to comfort others in their hurt and ours.

Comforted in Pain

I have a Christian friend who early in life contracted polio and has since lived in unrelenting pain. More recently she was diagnosed with cancer in her mouth and had one third of her tongue removed. Then not long ago she lost her beloved son to suicide. By her own admission, her pain has been immense from all three afflictions. Yet by leaning daily on Christ and looking for His comfort, she has had a remarkable ministry of comfort and counseling to others through the years. In fact, her effective ministry to others is in direct relationship to her leaning on her Lord and Savior in her personal pain. The two often walk hand in hand.

English poet Dora Greenwell (1821-1882) knew this truth well. She was born into an affluent family but because of economic hardships found herself moving from one family member’s residence to another for most of her life. She also struggled with frail health even as her writing career blossomed in the 1860s. As she reflected on her own life and the lives of the mentally and physically handicapped that she cared for, she must have wondered where God was in all this pain. We hear her answer in her poem “I Am Not Skilled to Understand,” a poem later set to music by William J. Kirkpatrick and still sung around the world today:

I am not skilled to understand
What God has willed,
what God has planned;
I only know at His right hand
Is One who is my Savior!

I take Him at his word indeed:
“Christ died for sinners,” this I read;
For in my heart I find a need
Of Him to be my Savior!

In her suffering, Dora saw a Savior. Through her suffering, Dora’s Savior comforted many who needed the assurance that someone knew and cared about their pain. She comforted so well because she received His comfort so often.

Entertainment vs. Education

Too often we buy into the notion that the Christian life should be one long joyride. After all, doesn’t God want us happy? Not primarily. God is far more interested in our education than our entertainment, and pain educates in a way that nothing else can. The Psalmist knew this well:

My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.
(Psalm 119:71, NLT)

The Psalmist was no masochist; he did not seek pain. But in life’s inevitable agonies he was wise enough to understand the remarkable clarifying power of pain. If we are as wise as he, we too will look past the myriad distractions that sap our lives and, in our pain, “pay attention” to what is truly important: the comfort of God and His call on our lives to share that comfort with others. In pain is purpose. In our spiritual education lies hope for others.

Great Hope in Hurt

A wise man once said, “A person can see further through a tear than through a telescope.” I have looked through both, and I know that is true. Through a telescope we can see light years into the cosmos, to the very edge of the universe. But through a tear we can see into the otherwise impenetrable human heart, and know its joys and its pains, its leaps and its longings, in a way no one else save God Himself can. Tears give us a rarified perspective on life that is unmatched in human experience. And our tears prepare us to lift up others in a way unmatched in human experience, too.

Someone else has said, “God can use no man greatly until he has hurt him deeply.” Certainly that is because one so deeply hurt has learned to rely completely on his Lord. But also because one who has known deep agony has a deep well of experience from which to draw to comfort others. The astonishing fact is that God uses pain and disappointment and hurt in our lives not to drive us to despair, but to drive us first to Him for comfort. Only then can we know the solace of the Savior, and only then can we honestly and fully empathize with those who are in pain.

Oswald Sanders credits the following poem to an “Author Unknown” in his book Spiritual Leadership (1967). Listen carefully to hear the heart of God in the purpose for our pain:

“When God Wants to Drill a Man”
When God wants to drill a man,
And thrill a man,
And skill a man,

When God wants to mold a man
To play the noblest part;
When He yearns with all His heart
To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed,
Watch His methods, watch His ways!

How He ruthlessly perfects
Whom He royally elects!
How He hammers him and hurts him,
And with mighty blows converts him
Into trial shapes of clay which
Only God understands;
While his tortured heart is crying
And he lifts beseeching hands!

How He bends but never breaks
When his good He undertakes;
How He uses whom He chooses,
And with every purpose fuses him;
By every act induces him
To try His splendor out —
God knows what He’s about.

The God of all comfort comforts us in our every affliction, for this purpose: that we may comfort those who are in any affliction with the same comfort we have received from Him. Pain is not purposeless. Pain shouts that something is wrong and opens our eyes to Him who will, in His good time, make all things right. Until that glorious day, in our pain we can truly wrap our arms around another and say with all godly empathy, “I know what you are going through. Let me tell you about my God of all comfort.”

Perry is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and has taught the Bible for over 45 years. His books and articles can be found at perrycbrown.com.