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.

—2 Corinthians 1:3-4

It’s no secret that our world today is a difficult one to navigate, not because of complicated laws and rules, but because of all the bumps and bruises and breaks that happen along the way. Life is hard. Things go wrong, and even when they aren’t going wrong, our brains often like to hyper-fixate on trying to figure out what will go wrong next, making us miserable in the process.

I’ve been in a place of anxiety about the future recently for a variety of reasons, and that led me to 2 Corinthians, where we see our Father as our Comforter.

At this point, the church at Corinth and Paul already had a rough relationship. He’d been trying to correct misunderstandings and immorality that had begun to spread in the church after his 18-month visit ended, but before he could get those problems handled, a group of false apostles showed up.

They led the people astray and managed to turn the people against Paul. Even after returning to Corinth, Paul wasn’t able to make much headway in correcting the damage done by the false apostles. After two visits and several letters, Paul finally received word that the church at Corinth had turned away from the false apostles and was following Paul’s teachings again.

It’s in the shadow of this drama that Paul writes 2 Corinthians. A large part of the book is devoted to solidifying sound doctrine for the church so they wouldn’t fall prey to a scheme like this again, but instead of just jumping into the thick of it, Paul decides to open with several verses devoted to comfort.

It’s an odd choice. The Corinthians had rebelled. They had turned their backs on Paul and the Truth he preached. So why wasn’t Paul scolding them for their failure? Shaking his finger at them and telling them to do better?

I need to preface this next thought by saying, this is just a guess. I have no way of really knowing, but I’d imagine the people of the church at Corinth probably weren’t in the best of spirits when they realized they’d been duped. 

Most of us wouldn’t be. It hurts to find out you’ve been lied to, and as a result, a previously treasured relationship has been broken or damaged. There’s pain, confusion, frustration, guilt, and probably even a bit of shame involved. And I imagine (although I do not know for sure) that’s why Paul chose to start this letter that way.

It’s like he was letting the people know that he was still on their side and so is God. 

Now that’s incredibly sweet of Paul (if that’s what he was up to) and that’s great for the Corinthian church, but what does that mean for us?

Certainly, there are applications for our own rebellion against God, but there are a couple of other things I love about this passage that so clearly show the goodness of my God.

1. The word mercies throws me off a bit here. I don’t think the original word is just talking about the kind of mercy that means to forgive a wrong. The original refers to a deep compassion for someone who is struggling. It’s not necessarily the forgiveness itself, but it’s the deep instinctual drive to have mercy on someone who is hurting. And the Creator and Sustainer of the universe feels that toward us.
2. The word comfort also becomes the equivalent of a shadow of itself when we see it in English. We often think of comfort as someone being the shoulder to cry on when we need it, but this is more active. The word refers to someone coming alongside you to comfort you, encourage you, and bring you joy in the difficulties you’re facing. It’s not just rubbing our backs and letting us cry on His shoulder; it’s being our safe place, our comfort, and then picking us up, dusting us off, and reminding us that we can do this with His help and we need to keep going. It’s like the reaction of both the world’s greatest mother and the world’s greatest father wrapped up in one.
3. This passage is another reminder of how our God is a redeemer. Generally speaking, people don’t need comfort when times are good. If we’re talking about needing comfort, things have gone wrong, but true to God’s nature, He doesn’t just leave us in our pain to deal with on our own. He comes and sits with us in it, and if we let Him, He’ll make something beautiful out of it.

I am so thankful to serve a God who comes to comfort me, even when I’m the cause of my own pain in the same way that the Corinthians would have been the cause of their own pain through their rebellion against Paul and ultimately the God who gave him the message. He truly is a good, good God.