“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”
(2 Corinthians 1:3-4)
These are troubled times in which we live. The enemy seems to be hard at work giving everyone something to be troubled about. Paul reminds us that troubles are actually mixed blessings, because they draw us closer to our Heavenly Father for comfort and support. During these months of social distancing and isolation, I have been blessed with wonderful care givers and loving brothers and sisters in Christ tending to my every need. But even so, there have been times I have wanted to throw a penalty flag on the enemy for “unnecessary roughness”. (Sorry about the football reference, but sports are on the long list of things I’ve missed.) It is hard to imagine as we go through troubles that we will not only come out stronger on the other side, but it will give us even more to share with others.
God created us as social beings. As Christians, sharing with other believers comes very naturally to us. We share our sorrows and our joys. We share our burdens and our freedoms. We share our prayer requests and our praise reports. In other words, we share our lives with each other. We have all encountered steep hills, deep valleys, tight curves and detours along our walk with the Lord. Sharing those things reminds us that we are not the only ones faced with such obstacles and that God will be with us every step of the way with comfort and provision. He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us and God always keeps His promises. I started this blog so I could share my long life as a Christian with you. I wanted to give you a true picture of what being a child of God is really like during good times and bad times.
There are two truths about troubles that I want to leave with you. First, the enemy will only take the time to trouble you when your service to the Lord is effective and causing him problems. Second, God will not allow the enemy to put more troubles on you than you can bear, even though it may seem like it at times. These two points are highlighted in the book of Job.