“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.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-7 ESV)
This little passage has at least three significant applications
to those of us who are grieving the death of a child.
Praising God for His
Mercies & Comfort
First, God provides all of the mercies and comfort we
receive in the midst of our great suffering.
Paul’s first point is to bless God, even in the midst of the great
suffering he has endured and which he describes later in the chapter. How is Paul able to provide us with
encouragement? Because of Paul’s sure
conviction that just as God allows suffering, all of the comfort we receive, in
and through suffering, is from Him. While
God may use humans and human institutions to be the vehicle of comfort, the
text is clear that God is the one responsible for orchestrating human
interaction so as to bring comfort to those who are suffering. Therefore, as we experience any comfort in
our grief, in various forms and times,
we ought to have a spirit of thanksgiving towards God, the source of our
comfort.
The Promise of
Purpose in Suffering
Second, we can live in the sure hope that God has a purpose
behind our sufferings. What a beautiful
promise it is to those of us who have experienced tragedy that no suffering is
wasted. Suffering is not random or
haphazard; God knows what type of suffering will be necessary, given our unique
personalities and life circumstances, to change us into people that are more
and more like him. Paul’s hope in the
Corinthian church was unshaken, given his knowledge that God would work great
purposes through their sufferings. We, too, can take heart that suffering is in
our lives will be experienced in such a manner, and to such a certain degree,
so as to provide Himself as the means to assuage that suffering.
The Comfort in
Christian Community
Third, are called to experience both the comfort and the
suffering in the context of our Christ-centered community. Paul tells us in
verse 4 that God comforts us in our personal afflictions so that we can comfort
others who are in any affliction. In
verse 6, Paul emphasizes that if any of us (“we”) are afflicted, or if any of
us (“we”) receive comfort, it is for the benefit of the community. In other
words, God’s purpose in providing us comfort is not merely to provide us
comfort for our own personal grief, but it is to provide us with opportunities
to pass along that comfort to others. For those of us grieving the death of a
young child, and who call upon the name of the Lord as our source of strength,
it should be clear to us that God’s comfort is not for us alone; it is for all
those fellow grieving parents with whom we cross paths.
If you have experienced significant suffering, such as the death
of a child, I pray that you would trust God for using it for great
purposes. If you have experienced
comfort, I pray that you would not just thank God for the provision of that
comfort, but also look for ways to pass along that comfort to others.
