Bending Low

Thanks for joining us for today's devotional reading from Our Daily Bread. Today's encouragement was written by Ann Cetus, and she titled it, Bending Low. A young mom followed behind her daughter, who pedaled her tiny bike as fast as her little legs could go. But picking up more speed than she wanted, the little girl suddenly rolled off the bike and cried that her ankle hurt. Her mom quietly got down on her knees, bent down low, and kissed it to make the pain go away. And it worked!

The little girl jumped up, climbed back on her bike, and pedaled on. Don't you wish all our pains could go away that easily? The Apostle Paul experienced the comfort of God in his continual struggles, yet kept going. He listed some of those trials in 2 Corinthians 11, verses 23-29, floggings, beatings, stonings, sleep deprivation, hunger, concerns for all the churches. He learned intimately that God is the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, or as another version translates it, he is the Father who gives tender love. Much like a mom comforting her child, God bends down low to tenderly care for us in our pain. God's loving ways of comforting us are many and varied. He may give us a scripture verse that encourages us to continue on, or he may have someone send a special note or prompt a friend to give us a call that touches our spirit. While the struggle may not go away, because God bends down low to help us, we can get up and pedal on.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from 2 Corinthians 1, verses 3-11. Please 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 in 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. We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.

Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us again. On Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf, for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. Let's pray. Dear Father of Compassion, come near to us and hold us in your arms where we can find rest and encouragement. Thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.