11/15/2020
Do we thank God for all the comforts He provides us? We seek out the Lord in times of affliction, or trouble, and thank Him when He gives us relief, but how easy it becomes to accept the blessings that he gives us without any hardship, and forget to thank Him. When things come easily, and comfortably, we should thank the Lord all the more diligently for His blessings, because these are the comforts of Christ.
“For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”
2 Corinthians 1:5 ESV
We easily remember the suffering of Christ because those things, the fists, whips, spit, and especially the cross, are etched into our minds. By our empathy we feel His suffering, and we receive the blessings of eternal life through that horror He endured to redeem us from our sin. In remembrance of His tribulation we thank Him for these blessings that his pain graced us with.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,”
2 Corinthians 1:3 ESV
However, there are comforts we receive from God the don’t demand our suffering. The raise we receive at work, which is a good example of a blessing that we can forget to thank Him for... because in our minds we feel that we earned it for ourselves. Can we think of others like this; maybe a quick lunch at a fast food restaurant that we grabbed on the go, or something as unthinking as the breath we just took?
“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.”
2 Corinthians 1:4 ESV
So if we don’t give God thanks for the blessings He provides us peacefully, and with joy, is it any wonder when we are made to suffer for those same blessings and that we are asked thusly to give Him the thanks He deserves? Do we thank Him too when we have suffered so that others will be comforted in their tribulation, by revealing to them His greatness through the delivery, and healing that we received through His mercy, and grace? Do they witness then our praise and thanksgiving for these things?
“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.”
2 Corinthians 1:5-6 ESV
So how is it that we are being brought to give God thanks? Do we thank Him for every comfortable blessing, for the rescue he provides us from our suffering, and do we thank him for using our mysterious trials to lead others to thank Him as they should? Somewhere in our lives we will learn all of these lessons regarding His blessings, and our thanksgiving. We will all come to see the relationship between our growing awareness of God, and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus... and thank Him.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for all the blessings we receive in our lives. Thank you for the comfortable times, the pain that reinvigorates our praise and thanksgiving, and the examples you demonstrate through us that bring the lost to their knees and lead them to you in tearful thanksgiving. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who desires our thanks, and lavishes us with your blessings. Great are you, and greatly to be praised for every good thing, and each ounce of suffering, that leads us to you. You are a merciful Father who gave us your Son Jesus to deliver us, and to teach us the lessons of thanking you in all things . Cover us with His blood Lord, and through Him, pour your grace over us. In this way we raise our voices in thanksgiving, and praise you for the blessing of seating us at your table forevermore.
“Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”
2 Corinthians 1:7-9 ESV
Rich Forbes