Today I am reading in 2 Corinthians 1. Listen to this Scripture:
"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. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort."
The God of our comfort has brought comfort to us in our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction.
We must remember that God will use our trials and sufferings for our good and His glory! We know that no matter what trial we go through, our God is in the midst of it. He walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death. We do not have to fear because He is with us. And when we have come out of the trial, we are more equipped to be used of Him to bring comfort to someone else. Notice the verse says that we which have been comforted in all our afflictions can then be used to comfort those who are going through any affliction. I find this very interesting. We often think that we can only comfort someone who is going through the same kind of trial or suffering that we have been through. But, the Scripture says if we have been through an affliction, we can comfort others who are going through any affliction. So, if I have lost a loved one to cancer, I can comfort others and not only people who have or are losing a loved one to cancer. I am also a prospect to help someone who is going through marital problems. How does that works?? Well, the bottom line of all pain and suffering is that it hurts. So, you and I that know pain know what it means to be "lying on our backs" and have no place to look but up! That is the best thing we can bring to others who are suffering - the experience that we have of hitting rock bottom and finding that God is a God of mercy. Paul in 2 Cor. 1 goes on to say that he "was so utterly burdened beyond his strength that he actually despaired of life itself". But he says that this was to make him not rely on himself but on God! All trials and suffering are opportunities that God uses to turn us to Him and help us to trust Him more. As I look back on my life, I recognize that the trials and pain are what caused me to grow the most.
A.W Tozar put it best when he said "it is doubtful that God ever used anybody greatly without first hurting him deeply". That is an amazing statement and I have found it to be true. Think of the great men of the Bible who we long to emulate. Joseph, Daniel, Job, David, the Apostle Paul and on and on.
On Sunday evening, I shared a story about a Pastor who went to visit and pray with a family who had just gotten some difficult news. So, he stood next to the family and prayed "Dear Lord, give this family strength...may they know Your grace and comfort...would You wrap Your arms around this family" and as he prayed those words he put his arm around the father. When he finished praying, the man quickly looked up and said "oh, its just you". When the Pastor questioned what he meant by that, the man replied "Well, you prayed for God to wrap His arms around us and for a moment I thought I felt His arm, but it was just your arm". The Pastor quickly responded "it was God, He just used the arms that were closest at that time!"
This is what God wants us to be - His hands and His feet. May we go where He sends us and may He use us today as empty vessels.
As I finish this entry, I am leaving my office to go and sit and talk with a man that is hurting so badly that he too is "despairing of life itself". I pray that God will use me to help him to "look up"!
God bless!
4 comments:
Pastor,
I love this article...
A quick point...Just as I will never be able to see things as God sees them (clearly and without the taint of my own being), I will also never fully understand pain and suffering.
But I will say that I think that Paul nailed it...
Romans 5:3-5 - More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
At the very least I can know two things:
1. that God can strengthen us through the trails.
2. Someday all things will be made new. There will be a day when there is no pain, no tears, no hurt and no sorrow. There will be a day when justice reigns and the peace of God rules a new heaven and a new Earth...
So,
Rom 8:18 - the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Thanks for the good word and for venturing into the bolgosphere. I appreciate the message regarding suffering. Perhaps the reason that so many are denying the legitimacy of suffering in the Christian experience is because they have not been instructed as to the value of it in the life of a believer. Few realize that through suffering, God can be glorified. Remember, it was the Spirit of God Who lead Jesus into the wilderness. It was not the spirit of poverty, sickness or disease.
Dear Pastor Croyts,
Hello, I attended your service last Sunday Morning. I just received your blog email. I read your blog and once again, I feel compelled by your words. It felt so good to be back in the place where I knew I belonged. Boy it has changed since I went to school there. The atmosphere is so different. I really like walking in and seeing so many people my age, people that I went to high school with. I walked in and sat by myself. I sat in my pue and listened to you speak. The words you said went straight to my aching heart. I really believe that God was telling you to speak to me. I felt like it was me and God all by ourselves. You can call me crazy if you would like. For 1 hour, God was telling me that He knows Kaleb's plan and that I must not rely on earthly things to give me comfort, I must trust Him. And for 1 hour, I felt God beginning to stitch my broken heart back together. I think I only have one stitch in...I think I am going to be on the operating table awhile. I know and God knows that the stitching of my broken heart is going to take a long time. The cut was made not with a straight edge knife, it was torn and the repair is not going to be easy. I know now that I can trust God to take care of Kaleb. It is not going to be easy and I am sure I will be tested. My children are my every breath and when I see that God may be testing my faith through them, I feel like I have no choice but to fight back. I have been fighting for 17 months! I am exhausted! I am trying to find the path back and last Sunday and today, you words were the street signs that I needed to lead me in the right direction. I am not sure if I will ever get past this test, but I want to try. So, Please pray that God will guide me through others like yourself.
Sincerely,
Amy Stockton
First of all, let me say this is my first blog here. I have joined a blog for people with brain aneuryisms. Actually, my name there is "numbskull"....I really do have a numb skull and everyone got a kick out of it. My reason for "chinup" here is not because I exercise regularly. I chose "chinup" because I have found if I keep mine up, its much easier to see heaven that way. Although all the blogs so far have been uplifting, I chose to comment regarding the "suffering" because it is so often misunderstood. So many people think of suffering as a punishment rather than a reward. Although my suffering has been no where near what Jesus's was, it has made me closer to God, and stronger, not weaker, as a person. I even believe that we find our greatest strength on our knees as we look up to God.
I worked in the medical field for close to 20 years, and watched people who suffer and recovered, or suffered and died. Each person coped with it in their own way. However, it was the ones who had a strong belief in the Lord that coped with it best. So many people saw it as a punishment, asking over and over, "why me?" So many became bitter, hateful, withdrawn, etc. If they had only looked at it as a "gift"....they were "chosen" to suffer because God believed in their strength. It's only too sad that so many not only did not believe in themselves, but they did not believe in God. They felt that during their time of suffering, that God had left them.
My "suffering" was not as bad as some, and a lot worse than others. But I NEVER asked God "why me", instead, I put myself in His hands, and actually thanked him for loving me enough to trust Him to see me through. I felt it was kind of an "honor" that He believed in me enough to make suffering a part of my life.
Suffering can be mental or physical. It is our duty to help each other through both types. I look at my experience with suffering, the opportunity to be able to reach out to others better than before. I believe it is just another one of life's lessons that will make our final home in heaven even more glorious.
To Amy....you feel your heart is being "stitched" back together. Remember that a "scar" is just proof that "you survived". I also think about my broken heart sometimes, and then I think to myself...Jesus is the rainbow tied around my heart, to hide the wounds where it's torn apart...having Him in our hearts truely makes it stronger.
During the times I find it hard to physically endure another moment, I think about Jesus's suffering for me and how He loved us all, not only during the times we loved Him, but even more-so during the time we
crucified Him.
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