Far
Beyond Our Ability To Endure
Paul, an apostle of
Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God
in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia: Grace and
peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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,
2
Corinthians 1:1-10
God comforts us in all
our troubles, “so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we
ourselves receive from God.”
All around us are people
who need to be encouraged with the comfort only God can give. He wants us to
reach out to them with tenderhearted compassion, to share the love He has
shared with us. May God send us to those who need His comfort today!
God’s
kindness meets our deepest need.
Our
Daily Bread – April 6, 2018