day no. 14,735: comfort and affliction

2 Corinthians 1:3-7
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 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. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 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. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

I have said it before and I will say it again, "when God speaks, listen; when God speaks repeatedly, listen better!"

The word, "comfort," appears 10 times in this passage.
The word, "afflication," or "suffering" appears 7 times.

So if you were to take a stab at what you thought this section of Scripture was about, you'd be sniffing up the right tree if you were to say, "I think it's about comfort and affliction."

Nailed it!

God is a Comforter. He does not comfort us, for the time being, by removing all opportunity for discomfort: i.e. affliction or suffering. It is better for us, for the time being, to be comforted by His presence in the midst of affliction and suffering than it is to have no affliction or suffering. 

Since this is true for all people, we will run into no lack of others who are suffering or experiencing affliction. Since we have been comforted by God, we can also comfort others. In fact, the very reason we have been comforted is so that we could and would be a comfort to others.

Christ suffered in order to provide comfort; by His wounds, we are healed; by His sufferings, we are comforted. So in Christ we are united by our sufferings and by our comforts. We find unity in suffering for the same types of things: beliefs and behaviors that accompany a life which is submitted to Christ. And we find unity in the same kinds of comforts: the hope and endurance which come from God through Christ.