The God of All Comfort

Hey friends, welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Today's reading, titled The God of All Comfort, was written by Allison Keita. Radamines was just a kitten when his owner dropped him off at an animal shelter thinking he was too ill to recover. The kitten was nursed back to health and adopted by the vet. He then became a full-time resident at the shelter and now spends his days comforting cats and dogs just out of surgery or recovering from an illness through his warm presence and gentle purr. That story is a small picture of what our loving God does for us and what we can do for others in return. He cares for us in our sickness and struggles, and He soothes us with His presence. The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 3 calls our God the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. When we are discouraged, depressed, or mistreated, He's there for us. When we turn to Him in prayer, verse 4 says He comforts us in all our troubles.

But verse 4 doesn't end there. Paul, who had experienced intense suffering, continues so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. Our Father comforts us, and when we've experienced His comfort, we're enabled to comfort others. Our compassionate Savior, who suffered for us, is more than able to comfort us in our suffering and distress. He helps us through our pain and equips us to do the same for others.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 3 through 7. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. Let's pray. Dear God, Thank you for your comforting presence in our pain and sorrow, and for being the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. In our own suffering, grow in us a compassion for others who are also suffering, and help us to be a comfort to them, as you've comforted us. Thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. His encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.