Dear Amy,

What is the nature of the comfort we can receive from God, and how can we receive it?

Life can be so hard. We need this comfort. So we need to understand just what it is, and how it works. Paul tells us.

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 have received from God.

― 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

I gained some insight into this recently, quite indirectly and unexpectedly. Just as I was arriving back home from a run, I bumped into a friend, a professor of theology with whom I have had some interesting and uplifting conversations over the years. I remarked that I had been struck by the incredible grace and kindness of the Lord. He then asked an interesting question: “Did something particularly good just happen?” to which the answer was no, not at all.

As I reflected on this later, it made me a little sad. So often, the grace of God is understood as being received through our circumstances, equated with something good and pleasant happening to us. How impoverished can be our understanding of grace! The grace of God is a powerful, tangible thing, which can be received and experienced in its own right, independently of any change in circumstance. And invisible to others, save perhaps for some glow about us as we receive it.

And so it is with comfort. If we read around those verses we see the context of the comfort is severe hardship, hardly pleasant circumstances. In particular, note this.

For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

― v5

Suffering and comfort here are hand-in-hand. This comfort from God is not received through observable, physical happenings. It is received directly. It is wonderful, powerful, and oh so tangible, a gift from the Father of compassion himself. A heavenly hug, so to speak, from the one who loves us beyond measure.

Whatever is happening, Amy, receive comfort directly from the God of all comfort, the Father of compassion, the one who loves you beyond imagining! 🙏