The One Who is Comforted by God

Corinthians 1:3-5

The Word of Life

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

The apostle Paul did not consider his life precious for the gospel of Jesus Christ and devoted himself with truth and dedication. He was able to devote himself like this because he was comforted by God. Paul is introducing God as the “God of comfort”.

The only true comforter is Jesus Christ. The comfort that people give is temporary and cannot solve the origin of a problem. Therefore, we must always seek the comfort of God and rely on Him alone. The Israelites were rebuked by God when they sought after consolation from their neighboring nations rather than relying on God so God spoke through the prophet Isaiah and said, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God”. True comfort is only given through Jesus Christ. When the word of true revelation is proclaimed and when we believe that word and put it at the center of our heart, we will experience unchanging, true comfort.

We are able to meet people who were comforted by God in the Bible. In the case of a widow who had lost her husband and her one and only son whom she relied on after her husband’s death was engrossed in sorrow but received great comfort from God. In Luke 7:11-17, she was comforted by the Lord’s Word to “stop crying” and by

bringing her son to life by commanding her dead son to “rise and stand!” she was also comforted. Likewise when Job was in extreme sufferings, it was not his friends who comforted Job but only God. Therefore, Job presented the following rhetoric ““So how can you console me with your nonsense? Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!” (Job 21:34).

Just like Job’s confession, the consolation of man is futile. When we press on forward only believing in the comfort of God and persevere we are able to pass all trials. Simeon and Anna are recorded in the Bible as people who “waited for the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25). The baby Jesus they met in the latter part of their life fulfilled the consolation of God itself through this encounter.

Prayer Title

Pray that like Simeon and Anna, when we await the consolation of Israel rather than waiting for the comfort of people, God will tell us to “stop crying”, solve our problems and experience the comforting touch of God that heals our hearts.