Why God? (Isa 60-63; 2 Cor 1)

Why did I face that? Why did that happen? Why did you allow that? I’m sure you have asked those sort of questions. The apostle Paul suffered more in his short lifetime than most of us will, and so he’s worth listening to as he addresses these sort of questions.

His answer is quite surprising, for starters, he begins by praising God (2 Cor 1:3)! There is no sense of anger at God for what he has been through. He give thanks for two reasons.

1. He received God’s comfort and was able to share that with others

In all that he faced, he discovered that God’s grace is sufficient. He faced much suffering, including death threats, shipwrecks, beatings, prison and more. In every single episode, he found comfort from the Lord. He found a closeness to the Lord, he discovered Jesus was standing with him. And that was wonderful, he had a greater sense of what Christ had suffered for him, as he faced such hostility. He tells us “as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” It’s not that he enjoyed the suffering, but he wouldn’t have gone without it for the blessings he received of the closeness and comfort of the Lord.

But Paul says, there’s more blessing than just receiving the comfort. He gets to share that comfort with others. He says in v4 God “comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction.” Paul’s thinking is that whenever we face a hard situation and receive God’s comfort, we are then able to help others in their suffering. But that’s not all, the second reason Paul gives thanks is:

2. Suffering makes us rely on God not ourselves

Again, it’s clear that Paul did not enjoy suffering! He describes an awful trial where he was so utterly burdened that he despaired of life. But even as he experienced such anguish, he learnt to rely on God who raises the dead. When everything is going well we can be tempted to self-reliance, to think, I can do this myself. But suffering strips us of foolish pride in ourselves and makes us realise just how dependent we are on God for everything, even the very breath you are taking now.

If you’re in the midst of a trial right now, pray for God’s comfort, and ask that He will help you comfort others with the comfort he gives you. And ask him to show you any areas where you are relying on yourself rather than Him so that you might learn to depend on Him more. And if you are not in the midst of suffering right now, pray for those who are as Paul requests in v11.