Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort. Paul opens a letter full of conflict and defense with gratitude for God's comfort. He's been through suffering. The Corinthians have hurt him. Yet he begins here. With blessing. With thanksgiving for mercy.
I'm a grief counselor, and I notice that people often can't access God's comfort because they're too angry at God. They can't bless God while they're hurting. But Paul shows another way. He blesses God not because the pain is gone but because God is good. He calls God the 'God of all comfort,' acknowledging his own experience of that comfort.
I've learned that comfort is not the removal of pain. It's the presence of God in the pain. Paul calls God the God of mercies, plural. Not one mercy, but many. Maybe mercy for the pain itself, maybe mercy for the way pain teaches us, maybe mercy for how pain connects us to others. I'm trying to bless God before I feel better, to acknowledge his goodness before I understand my suffering. That's where the comfort begins.
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