Seeking Comfort?

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. 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. Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace. For we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand. And I hope that, as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus.  2 Corinthians 1:3-14 NIV

Whatever it is we need, we can find it in the Bible in order to try to make sense of the daily events that give us cause to wonder--what is happening in our world.

When we need to understand the foundations laid--those events that shaped history and brings us to this point--we find answers in the books of history in the bible.

When we need to understand the achievements and calamities of good leadership and wicked leadership--we look to the history that summarizes how Kings functioned--who made great strides and who represented evil incarnate.

When we need wisdom we seek it in the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.

When we need a song to soothe our souls or ignite rejoicing--we seek in the Psalms.

When we need to understand how God uses people to warn the masses of impending dangers we look to the Prophets--from Isaiah to Malachi--never forgetting Elijah and Elisha or anyone else God used including Deborah and Esther.

When we need to understand a true love-relationship--we look to the Songs of Solomon.

When we need to understand the Plan of Redemption--we look to the Gospels and for a more personal accounting of the life of Jesus--we embrace John's Gospel.

When we need to understand what the 11 remaining disciples did and accomplished, we look to the book of ACTS (often analogized as--Acting Christians Terrorizing Satan).

When we need to understand how God intended the Body of Christ to function--after the resurrection--we look to every book in the New Testament up to Revelation.

When we need to understand eternal life--we look to Revelation and seek wisdom from God in understanding the vision God showed John.

Though there are skeptics in the world who refute anything Bible, we can see--if we have understanding and spiritual insight--how God prepared His people to deal with those as well.

Whatever we need--God has already provided and now it is up to us--to continually seek Him to keep us on the right track.

We are indeed without excuse--for we have history to show us what happened when mankind refused to obey God; we have the present to see what happens when those who claim to know God--lie for their own benefit; and we have the future--to plan for our children and grandchildren--teaching them to trust God in all things and to make sure they understand the purpose of knowing history so we won't keep making the same mistakes. For if we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeating the mistakes made in the past and they will inevitably change our present and our future.

The comfort we seek is in God's Word, not in trusting people--for the sake of a party--when all the people are not the intended beneficiaries of all decisions made.

But change is coming--look for it and be prepared to engage in greatness!