“For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.”
(2 Corinthians 1:5-6 NIV)
Wondering How Long You Can Endure?
We all walk through difficult times. The Bible describes these times as spiritual fire or flood—overwhelming and disorienting experiences where you feel like you’re drowning or dried out. These are painful times where you wonder how long you can endure.
We have tough days, but if we’re honest, enough tough days one after another turn into a tough time. Then the difficult weeks turn into months. Soon, we realize we’re living in an uncomfortable season of life. With no signs of the season changing, we wonder how long we can endure it—or if we can.
What You Need to Endure Tough Times
What do we need to enable us to endure tough times?
We find a surprising answer in the Bible. In the second letter to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul writes in the power of the Holy Spirit,
“For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.” (2 Corinthians 1:5-6 NIV)
Plenty could be said about these verses, but let’s focus on one phrase. Notice that comfort produces patient endurance. Comfort helped Paul endure through tough times.
God the Father Wants to Comfort You
This comfort comes from God the Father—the same God of compassion (2 Corinthians 1:3) who saw us suffering under the weight of our sin, and headed toward eternal suffering, and sent Jesus to save us from it.
For all those who believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, God loves us with the love of a good Father. His heart is full of compassion for his children (Psalm 103:13). To endure our trials, we need the personal comfort of our heavenly Father.
What will this comfort look like, you ask? Well, that’s the adventure in it. Your Father knows you best, and he will fulfill his promise to comfort you, however that looks in your life. From 2 Corinthians we learn that God may comfort us through the presence and encouragement of other believers (2 Corinthians 7:6). But God can comfort you in a host of ways, and he knows the precise kind of comfort you need and when and how to send it.
What difficulty are you enduring?
Ask the “God of all comfort” to comfort you in a way that will help you endure through this tough time. Then, ask God to show you someone who needs the same comfort you received and take the time to share with them about the same comfort you received.