We had our first small group Bible study tonight and here are a few of the highlights from 2 Corinthians 1:1-11.
1. God is the "God of mercy and the God of all comfort." How wonderful that with every affliction, God Himself comes to comfort our hearts and strengthen us directly.
2. The word comfort divides into prefix and root like this com- = with + fort = strength so comfort is "with strength" and this is real strength from God Himself to give us the strength we need to meet any trial He calls on us to face. 1 Cor. 10:13 ESV "No temptation [or testing] has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted [tested] beyond your ability, but with the temptation [testing] he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."
3. We have a "fellowship of His sufferings" by participating in the sufferings that He calls on His body, the church, to undergo. And "the greater, the sufferings, the greater, the comfort" that comes to us from God.
4. The suffering and the comfort from God are productive and fruitful and accomplish great good. They "produce in you patient endurance." 1:6 NIV
5. One of the reasons God allows suffering in our lives is so that we can help and encourage others who are similarly afflicted. God "comforts us in all our troubles, so that [purpose statement] we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." 1:4 NIV
6. Another purpose statement in v. 9 after Paul told of the hardships they suffered that were so terrible they "despaired even of life" and "felt the sentence of death." And then the purpose statement: "But this happened [so] that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead."
7. And then the verse showing the value of prayer that Minnie and I used for three years as missionaries in Taipei (when we taught at Christ's College): "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." 1:11 NIV
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