Sunday, October 5, 1997 In Your Absence:
In this week's lesson, which came from II Corinthians 1:3-11, we learned about God as the Source of all comfort. In this life, we often experience difficulty, and sometimes, those difficulties seem to be more than we can bear. Even in such situations, though, the Apostle Paul has taught us in this particular writing to the church at Corinth that God is still good and faithful and that He will always hold us up through whatever may come. An important conclusion of this week's lesson was that God not only comforts us through our current difficulties but that He is also a "constant" Comforter. In verse Four, Paul used the present tense form of the verb "comfort" to show that God is always a Comforter. He comforts us in all our troubles, but in addition, He does not leave us in this life even for a moment. Thus, we are never alone. No matter what difficulty or trial you may be going through, you have the constant comfort and companionship of a Friend who sticks closer than a brother (see Proverbs 18:24). What an encouragement that should be to each of us. As we go about our daily lives, we do not need to be held back by all the hurts and pains which we experience. Instead, we can give those anxieties over to the Lord and, by faith and in the strength of His power, keep charging ahead for Him.
Another important conclusion of this week's lesson was that our struggles cause us anxiety but that those struggles are not without purpose. First, they teach us to rely on the Lord. The Apostle Paul explained in verses Eight through Eleven that he had faced a life-threatening situation while in Asia and that God had gotten him through it. Paul wanted to encourage those around him to trust their problems to Christ, and a couple thousand years later, we can still follow that instruction. A second purpose for our struggles is that they make us instant missionaries by giving us avenues into the hurts and pains of others. When the Lord has carried one of us through a particular battle, what a blessing it is when we can then help someone else through their battles. This life, in my opinion, is not about accumulating this world's goods. It is about all of us carrying each other to heaven. In my mind, I picture soldiers limping back from war. Some are able to move under their own strength, some must have a crutch or crutches, and some must lean on another person for help. The ultimate goal for those soldiers is to get back home, and for the Christian, the ultimate goal should be to go home to be with the Lord. It is not important who among us are strong or weak. Before the Lord, we are all weak, and as His representatives, we need to be about the business of comforting and helping one another. Let us never focus solely on our own hurts, but with thankful hearts for those hurts, let us instead look around us with the idea of helping those nearby who also may be hurting. Let us always be faithful ministers in the work of the Lord, and as we do so, let us also always rejoice that the troubles of this world will soon pass away and that we will be forever with the Lord.
Tom of Spotswood"He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." (I John 5:12)
"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)
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