Join Charles Stanley as he explores the profound concept of comfort found in God, the Father of mercies. Learn how encountering hardships enables us to experience God’s power and closeness like never before. From biblical examples like the Apostle Paul’s trials to the gentle compassion of Jesus, this episode is a testament to the life-changing reality of divine comfort available through our faith journey.
Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Thursday, January 15th. Do you need encouragement and reassurance today? When life leaves you weary or uncertain, God offers the peace and strength your heart longs for. Stay with us for a powerful and uplifting message about the God of all comfort, who not only sees your pain, but knows how to restore your hope.
SPEAKER 02 :
God is called by many names, but one of the most comprehensive of all of those names is the one that he identified himself. When he spoke to Moses and Moses said, now, what am I going to tell these people when I go back and who am I going to say has sent me? And God, the father Jehovah said, you tell them the I am has sent you. I am the creator. I am the redeemer. I am the savior. I am the Lord. I am the light. I am the water. I am the bread. I am the door. I am the way. I am the life. I am, I am, I am. Not I was, not I shall be, but I am. That is God’s great comprehensive title, the great I am. But you know, when I’m thinking about sometimes that I need the Lord in different areas of my life, when I’m going through some difficulty or hardship, I sort of like to have a name that sort of identifies with what I’m facing. For example, let’s say that you and I are hurting about something. Well, there is a title given by God for Himself in the Scriptures that best suits me, I think, when I’m really hurting. Which brings me to the title of this message, And brings me to the theme of it. It’s what I want to talk about. It’s a title given by God about himself through the Apostle Paul that all of us who hurt, once in a while we need to hear him. And that is the God of all comfort. So I want you to turn, if you will, to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. And let’s look, if you will, in verse 3 and read these first 11 verses together, remembering now that Paul was a man who knew all about hardship. heartaches, trials, and if you read the whole book of 2 Corinthians, you will define very clearly. In the fourth chapter, he’s talking about our afflictions, perplexed. despairing, persecuted, struck down. Then if you go on over to chapter 11, he’s talking about all of these things he’d been through, imprisoned, beaten, and all the rest. In chapter 12, he’s talking about discovering that in his weakness, God demonstrates his greatest strength. And so he begins this epistle by saying, verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. Or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. And our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.” For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively beyond our strength so that we despaired even of life. Paul says, I thought this was it. Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves. In order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a peril of death. And will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope, and He will yet deliver us, you also joining and helping us through your prayers, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed upon us through the prayers of many. Paul says, God is the God of all comfort. And what I want us to see in this passage is exactly what he’s saying, and that is that our God is named the God of all comfort. Now that says several things to us about God and one of the first things it does, it reveals to us the very nature of God because now read that passage, here’s what I know for sure. When he says that our God is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, I know that no matter what I have to go through, what my circumstances may be, how deep the valley, how dark the trials, how strong the persecution, How difficult the times, this I know, that my Father of mercies is a God of all comfort. That means He cares for me right in the midst of my hardship and my heartache and my trials. That’s who our God is. he is a god of all comfort the father of all mercies as he says and therefore he understands what i’m feeling and he’s feeling what i’m feeling and he knows about it and he is with me in it the god of all comfort now what is a comforter a comforter is one who stands by our side to encourage us That is a comforter, aids us, helps us, encourages us, relieves us, supports us, cheers us on. And what he’s saying in this passage is this, is that God is one who walks with us. who lives on the inside of us, who aids us, supports us. And when we think, God, I can’t handle it anymore. God, I can’t stand it anymore. It is God the Father who is standing by our side and saying to us, yes, you can. Keep moving. Keep going. Yes, you can. You will make it. Don’t give up. Don’t quit. Don’t turn back. You will make it because I’m going to be with you every step of the way. That is the God of all comfort. Now, you see, if you don’t understand who He is, and your idea of God is that He’s way up yonder somewhere, so busy with the transactions of heaven, and so interested in people that you consider far more important than you are, and that your little old problems are insignificant, and God couldn’t be concerned about you, and you’re not worthy of His attention, and who are you anyway but a nobody, then my friend… no matter how many times he says in the Bible that he is the God of all comfort you will walk through valleys of hardship and trial and suffering and difficulty and you will struggle with unbelief you will struggle with frustrations and anxieties and oftentimes get angry and hostile and want to blame and sometimes get bitter toward God because you do not understand that he said He’s the God of all comfort. That means He has committed Himself to comfort you through your heartache, through your suffering, through your tragedy, through your valley experiences. He is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Now, that very name reveals His nature. That is, He’s caring for me when I’ve hurt my life, scratched it up, broken it, and when it is gouged. Now, it also reveals His very work. Think about this for a moment. Go back, if you will, to Isaiah chapter 61. And you recall in the 61st chapter of Isaiah, this is the scripture that Jesus quoted in the temple when he stood up with the scroll. And listen to what it says in Isaiah about the coming Messiah. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn. That’s His work. That’s His ministry. That’s why He’s called the God of all comfort. Why? Because it is His character. It is His nature to comfort us. And not only that, that’s His work. That’s His ministry. You remember when Jesus was here upon earth, what He said? He said, Listen to this. I’ll give you rest. What a wonderful word of comfort. You recall what Jesus said in the 14, 15, 16 chapters of John? He said over and over and over again, he said, and I will send you another helper, parakletos, a comforter. He’ll be in you, with you, and upon you. He says, I’m not going to leave you as orphans. I’m going to send you a comforter, a helper. He says, I am a God of all comfort. Jesus said, I came to comfort those who are hurting and those who are struggling with the despairs of life. Some of you, you’re hurting. Your children have said, I want nothing else to do with you as my parents. Just forget you know me. That hurts. You’ve had a financial crisis that’s thrown you in a valley. And somehow something has happened to your own sense of self-worth, maybe because of criticism or whatever it might be. Your own sense of self-image is dragging in the mud, and you don’t feel like anybody cares. And so you sense despair, defeat. disillusionment, depression. Where is this God of mine? Exactly where he promised to be. He is the God of all comfort. And that’s his work. Now think about, if you will, when you think about the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn, if you will, to 2 Corinthians chapter 7. Listen to what he says here. There are people who are living in depression today and sometimes that is a physical problem, some chemical imbalance in their life that causes depression. But you know what? A lot of depression is the result of anger and hostility and bitterness and resentment. And you can trace most of it probably back to anger. Listen to what he says in this passage. Verse 5 of 2 Corinthians chapter 7. If we’ll let him. For even when we came into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest. But we were afflicted on every side. Conflicts without. Fears within. But listen to this. But God who comforts the depressed comforted us by the coming of Titus. That is, it’s his ministry. And if you’ll notice in… Acts chapter 9, and there are many verses that relate to this. He says in the 31st verse, So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace being built up and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. It continued to increase. That is the work in the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Now think about this. The Bible says that God is the God of all comfort. Jesus said, I’m coming to comfort those who are hurting. And the work in the ministry of the Holy Spirit is comfort. God has chosen to work in your life and my life as the comforter. And so that you and I are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Somebody says, well, you know, I want to see God. If there is a God, I want to see Him. Listen, He’s too big for your eyes. God’s too big for your eyes. You can’t see Him. He’s living on the inside of you. You and I have the God of all comfort living on the inside of us. God the Father, the God of all comfort. jesus coming to comfort us the holy spirit jesus that i’m going to send him he’ll be your helper your comforter he’ll be with you in you and forever your daily comforter which means that when you and i are walking through the valleys of despair and hardship and heartache and trials and troubles and we’re thinking god i’m not going to make it lord there’s no way for me to make it and we’re tempted to have ourselves a big pity party you remember this the god of all comfort is there saying keep going Don’t give up. Don’t look back. Don’t say you can’t. Yes, you can because I am there to see to it that you make it through the end of the tunnel and you’re going to see light if you’ll just trust me. That’s the kind of God we serve. And he says he is the God of all comfort. Now think about this. When Jesus walked upon this earth, think about how he responded and how he acted toward people. The woman taken in adultery, thrown down, embarrassed in front of all of her accusers. And here’s Jesus and they want him to make some kind of statement so they can stone him to death and trap him in the very statement. What is the one most comforting thing Jesus could possibly have said? Here’s the Messiah. Here’s God. Here’s a woman caught, trapped in the very act of adultery. And what does Jesus say to her? Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. What more comforting word could Jesus have said than that? You know why? Because that’s the nature of a God of all comfort. Listen to me carefully. There’s one thing you’ll never find Jesus doing in the Bible. Jesus will never put you down. We’re the ones who say, shame on you. I can’t imagine. You got yourself in that mess. You deserve what you’re suffering. If you think that’s bad, wait till next time. Not Jesus. No matter how often we stumble and fall and blow it in life, what happens? The God of all comfort is there to do what? to remind me, to assist me, to help me, to relieve me from the pain, and to cheer me on to remind me, yes, you will make it because you’re going to make it with me. But you see, if you don’t know Him, you won’t see Him that way. If you don’t know Him, you’ll keep thinking that He’s up yonder being critical and judgmental, and that’s not God at all. God does have His wrath. There is a God of judgment. But for those of us who are His children, listen to what He says. He says, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Now, turn back to Psalm 119 for a moment. Verse 71, look at that. David says, it is good for me that I was afflicted. He must be sick. That I may learn thy statutes. The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. Wait a minute. Hold it. It is good for me that I was afflicted. that I’m suffering persecution, that I’m going through trials. The pressure’s on them in a vice. I’m misunderstood. I’m hurting. He says, it’s good for me that these things have happened, that I may learn thy statutes, that I may learn the principles of God. I may learn the ways of God. I may understand the nature of God. I may be more conscious of the attributes of God, that God may be able to do something in my life that he’s not done before. He says, the law of thy mouth, these things that I’m learning, these things are better to me more valuable to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces i wonder how many believers today can say that you see our problem is that we don’t value truth like god values it this book right here costs god the blood of his son and when listen to this i haven’t even gotten to the other passage yet go down to verse 75. I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me. O may thy lovingkindness comfort me. He says, in faithfulness I have afflicted you. You say, well, do you mean to tell me that you believe that God sends affliction? I do. Some of it I bring upon myself. Some of it other folks may be a part of it, but some of it God just channels my way. You know why? Why? Here’s the reason. Think about it. How will you ever discover the power of God to comfort you until, first of all, you get in the valley of affliction and trials and hardship and suffering? We’ll never know it until we get there. And the psalmist can thank God that in his trials and tribulations and cry out, oh, may thy loving kindness comfort me. Now, so when Paul says that you and I have a God, listen, he says a father of mercies and a God of all comfort. Now, so we say this name, the God of all comfort, reveals his nature. It reveals His ministry, but it also reveals His power. Notice these words. He says, Now, who’s the source of all comfort? God. There’s nobody who can really comfort but God. And oftentimes when I walk into a funeral parlor and here’s a family who’s really grieved, I know in my heart I might say a few things. But listen, if the Holy Spirit doesn’t do the comforting, forget it. It’s not going to be done. Because it must be His Spirit comforting. He is the great comforter. He has the power to comfort in every single situation. He’s the God of all comfort. And notice how he says it, who comforts us in all affliction. A woman says, my husband just walked out and told me he didn’t love me and never wanted to see me again. And my world crashed. Is God sufficient for that? The God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions. And here’s a mother who’s just heard that her son died on an overdose of drugs, and her world came tumbling in. Is God sufficient for that? And here is a man who is 60 years of age, and for 35 years he’s worked for the same company, fatefully. And he walks in tomorrow morning, and they say to him, Sorry, you don’t have a job any longer. So long. Thanks for what you’ve done. It’s all over. And his whole future turns dark and frightful. Is God sufficient for that? Here’s what he says. Who comforts us in all our affliction? And here’s what he’s saying. There’s not anything that God doesn’t. is not willing and cannot comfort us in.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to The God of All Comfort. If you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
