How Are we Suffering?

posted Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 (1 Comment)

Theology of suffering as presented by Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:3-12. Some thoughts God gave me this morning.

In our experiences of hardship and suffering God remains the Father of compassion and the Father of all comfort, according to Paul. God promises to comfort us in “all of our troubles”. Not one is left out!

These troubles, which represent our hardships and sufferings, are part of life. We need to see them as part of our existence and journey with God. Paul states that we can expect comfort to overflow our way just like the sufferings of Christ “flow over into our lives”. God has setup these two realities—sufferings that flow into us and the comfort we receive.

So what can we expect God to do through our suffering? At least four things are explicit in this passage and one is my own inference.

1. God allows suffering to flow into our lives so that after receiving His comfort in all our troubles we can become instruments of comfort to others.
2. Somewhere in suffering or in observing the suffering of others we develop “patient endurance of the same sufferings”. In a way, we could say that the sufferings of others are our blessing. My sufferings become a blessing to others.
3. Through suffering we are placed in situations where we realize that “we are not to rely on ourselves but on God”. Paul qualifies our God as someone who is able to “raise the dead”. So if our God can do that what then are our sufferings to Him? If God plans to redeem our immortal bodies which are perishable how much more would He not redeem our suffering experiences for the good of our spirit?
4. As the Body of believers participates in prayer in the suffering of others praises and thanksgiving are offered to God on behalf of those suffering because of the ways in which God comforts and delivers.
5. The inference I make from this passage is that through suffering we come to know things we would not otherwise come to know. We come to know God as the Father of compassion and the God of comfort. We come to know who we really are and who God can be to us. We experience the blessing of unity in prayer in the presence of hardship. We learn to praise God. We learn to hope in HIM!

May our Father of compassion and God of comfort help us to lean o Him as we face our daily hardships. He will comfort us “in all of our troubles”!

Diego Cuartas

1 Comment so far

1. by liz

   On July 30, 2010 at 2:39 pm

   Thank you for this!

One Response to “How Are we Suffering?”