Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God (2 Cor 1:3-4).According to Paul, at least one of the reasons that we go through hard times is so that we can then be able to comfort others who go through something similar using the comfort we received from God. Cool, huh?
Are you suffering some difficulties? Seek out a brother or sister who has had the same experiences and allow the wisdom and comfort that God gave them benefit you. Have you been through some difficulties? Don't keep that to yourself. Sometimes we want to "cover up" hardships. Maybe we want to just appear brave or "above it all" or just don't want to bother people with it. Well, I would guess that there is one (more than one) person out there dying for the comfort that you can offer because you've been there.
Now, note this. In neither case -- suffering or having been through suffering -- is it recommended to be silent. Instead, we are commanded to "bear one another's burdens" (Gal 6:2). We can't bear one another's burdens if we don't share them. Times are tough. Let's do that.
7 comments:
Ah, such good advice. Let's not be afraid of each other.
Times ARE tough, but we are a blessed people. We have some truly GREAT resources available to us that the rest of the world does not. Stan, you're so right. We not only have the God of love Who offers comfort Himself, we have each other, through whom God so often works.
When it comes right down to it, isn't it almost always FEAR that keeps us apart, that keeps us from talking heart-to-heart versus discussing only the more superficial things of our lives?
If you are the type of person who has always tried to be an encourager, when you go through personal trials yourself, there is always the temptation to just keep to yourself. After all, you think, an encourager would never want to DIScourage ANYONE! They probably have enough problems of their own as it is. They certainly don't need to hear mine as well.
Oh, really? Think again. Are you sure about that? You really might want to strongly reconsider your plans of ISOLATION.
There really are people out there who actually enjoy being used of God to help others. Some of them have "been there", survived, and have much wisdom stored up and ready to share. Remember, just because you aren't feeling very strong doesn't mean everyone is feeling that way.
I often think back to what Jimmy Swaggart said shortly after he was caught leading a double life because of the sin that had taken him captive and his ministry's empire came crashing down. He said something like, 'Who could I talk to?', with great emphasis on the word "I".
Early on, before Jimmy Swaggart's sin completely overtook him and fogged up his mind so much that he couldn't even think straight, he probably should have found someone, you think? Don't let fear OR pride keep you from seeking help from your brothers and sisters who share the same mighty Dad.
Whatever your trial or sin, it's not so unique that nobody has ever heard of or endured such a thing before. The Bible says "there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecc. 1:9). Chances are IT WON'T SHOCK your listener anywhere near as much as you fear it might, especially if it's an older person in whom you've confided. Many older saints have "heard it all before" and their feathers are not easily ruffled.
Satan probably LOVES our isolation or separation line of thinking. If we are feeling a bit weakened to begin with, then he can all the more easily separate us from the body of Christ, the way predators circle around, trying to scope out one particular sickly-looking animal and get it separated from the protection of its pack or herd. Once that's accomplished, it is far more vulnerable. The chase is on, until finally it is exhausted from having it's enemy nipping at its heels for so long, and it is most often taken down. The predator has been successful.
(Anybody still with me? Almost done! Really!)
Like you said, Stan, we need to make an effort to "SEEK OUT a brother or a sister who has had the same experiences", because usually someone doesn't just come ringing our doorbells seeking us out. Sometimes just the search itself can yield some interesting benefits.
If the first person you go to isn't helpful, don't give up. Who knows that person isn't going through something difficult or even the same thing him/herself? And though he couldn't help you at that time, he might someday let you know that just finding out he wasn't alone in his struggles or wasn't yet able to help someone else was actually beneficial to his growth. Maybe he's now determined that he WILL be ready next time something like this occurs. TRUST GOD to help you. TRUST HIM throughout the process.
They say "God works in mysterious ways". Have YOU ever desired to be a servant of God? Okay, let another servant serve you for a while. Let go of your fear, and let God work through fellow believers, some of whom He has made STEWARDS OF "THE MYSTERIES OF GOD" (I Cor. 4:1).
We have chosen to both seek and emulate the heart of "the God of all comfort". Sounds like a GOOD GOD to me!
This thang that turned out to be a danged sermonette stems from fairly recently NOT having practiced what I just preached and learning the hard way that there were likely several things I suffered through with God alone while some of His faithful servants were just standing by, ready and waiting to serve by helping to carry my burdens and helping to ever keep in the forefront of my mind precious truths that could have saved me some wasted time. Obviously, I don't recommend taking this Off the Beaten Path of Fellow Saints Route. It's not a short cut.
Well, still learning! And still learning some pretty SIMPLE things that I should have known by now, too!
Have a good day. :o)
Sherry: "Anybody still with me?"
Followed you all the way through. Thanks.
(Isn't it a pain when you need more than "4096" characters to say what's on your heart?)
Yes. 4096. "How to Pour Out Your Heart in 4096 Characters or Less", by Frank Frankly. (Why is it not 5000?) But tis sometimes a GOOD thing when one tends toward verbosity! A couple times, over the months, it's been just enough of a deterrent and stark reminder of wordiness that I've gotten done, saw it was too long to send without breaking up, and just scrapped the whole mess of words, which then felt even better than spouting, then possibly being embarrassed later. So... I'm down with that. ;o)
You should have read what I wrote the other day when it seemed you were given permission to keep writing your blog in certain ways and it seemed you were were being reprimanded for not spending even MORE huge blocks of TIME responding than you already have. Or... maybe you shouldn't have. Yeh, shouldn't. For a person who is generally calm, I was a little irked. I've chilled. Glad YOU seem to possess so much patience though. I thought maybe gratitude was a little bit more in order for the massive number of hours you have spent on some issues, but I suppose it's hard to be grateful when you're not hearing what you want to hear.
Sherry,
FYI, the "4096" is a multiple of 2. Computers (and much related to them) operate in multiples of 2 (on and off) so you get a series of numbers like 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096. See? 4096. You'll find that things like RAM for computers also comes in those multiples -- they just round things off to make them look nice.
I know, Too Much Information (TMI), but, hey, if you can get verbose and say so much, maybe I can help a little, too.
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