However, God beautifully comforts the suffering through the means of fellow-sufferers. In fact, Paul says that’s one of God’s plans for our pain:
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 affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. (2 Corinthians 1:3–5)
God’s Purpose in Suffering—and Comfort
We are fellow-heirs with Jesus Christ, sons and daughters of the living God through the gospel (Romans 8:13–17). And because of this relationship, the all-powerful Ruler of the universe is also a Father of mercies and a God of all comfort. Here Paul says that God comforts them in all their afflictions. There’s no affliction that God is unaware of or distant from. God is infinitely interested in the care and comfort of his sons and daughters in all their afflictions. So you are never alone in your suffering, whatever the pain or loss might be.
But notice God’s purpose for his comfort. As we look to God for comfort and hope in suffering, he means to spur us on to comfort others who are being afflicted with the same comfort we’ve received from God.
God comforts us so that we can comfort others.
God grants us mercy so that we can be merciful to others.
God stands whole-heartedly with us in our suffering so that we will stand whole-heartedly with others who are suffering.
God never leaves us alone in our suffering so that we won’t leave others alone in theirs.
It’s beautiful when comfort spreads in this way, and it should happen often in the body of Christ. It is sweet to see people redeem their suffering by taking their eyes off of themselves and turning them toward God to find strength, and then toward others to offer the comfort that God provided them.
Everyone Is Suffering
Not only is it sweet, but it is necessary for the glory of God and for the good of his church. Suffering comes in many and varied forms. As a young pastor, one of the first things I realized is that everyone is suffering. It looks different in many cases, but no one that I know yet has completely escaped the curse and pain of suffering.
I’ve been humbled again and again watching my wife—after years of chronic pain—selflessly serve other sufferers behind the scenes. She has always been compassionate, but through her suffering, she is now always moving toward others’ suffering because she knows the pain and the struggles. She knows when to encourage. She knows when to simply groan with someone. God has comforted her so that she can comfort others. It is all his grace in her pain. It is all his strength in her weakness. He deserves all the glory, and yet he still means to use her to accomplish his purpose of comforting others.
God means for us to not let our suffering become an excuse to keep our weakness hidden or to just focus on ourselves. Rather, we show a beautiful display of the gospel and of the very comfort of Christ as we let others in to see our weakness in order to say Christ’s strength is strong enough for them—their weakness, their pain, their suffering. We beautifully display the goodness of the gospel as we turn our eyes upward to God and then outward to others to be his means of comfort for them. Then, we will redeem our suffering—or better, we will realize one of God’s good purposes for it.
We must be ready to share our comfort in the midst of suffering, because God’s glory is at stake and because the sufferers are many.
