Channels of Comfort: Discovering God’s Purpose in Our Pain

Life’s hardest moments tend to arrive without warning: a brother dying in your arms in a remote village with no medical help; a message about a sister’s death while sitting an exam; a phone call on Christmas morning announcing the death of your father-in-law while your wife sleeps peacefully beside you. These are not hypothetical scenarios—they are the lived experiences that shape our understanding of suffering and faith.

Each of us carries burdens that others cannot see. We have all faced difficult moments that have tested our faith, challenged our understanding of God’s goodness, and left us wondering how to respond. It is precisely in these moments that Scripture offers us a pathway forward, not around the pain, but through it.

In 2 Corinthians 1:1–4, Paul writes:

These words come from a man intimately acquainted with suffering. Paul was imprisoned, beaten, stoned, and shipwrecked. He faced betrayal and persecution for the sake of Christ. Yet his letter to the Corinthians reveals a profound truth: God ordains difficult times in our lives so that we can know him, praise him, and become vessels of blessing to others who suffer.

The first lesson we learn from Paul is that we must praise God in difficult times. This is not easy. Our natural inclination is to wait until the storm has passed before we lift our voices in thanksgiving. But Paul demonstrates a different pattern—he praises God not after the difficulty, but in it.

Notice how v. 3 begins: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The word “blessed” can also be translated as “praise” or “ascribe honour to God.” Paul could have opened his letter with complaints about his shipwrecks and beatings. Instead, he begins with praise.

When Paul identifies God as “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he is pointing us to the trinitarian relationship that undergirds our faith. Christ is the eternal begotten of the Father, the exact expression of God, co-equal with the Father. This is not a diminishment of Christ’s divinity, but an affirmation of the unity and relationship within the Godhead. Understanding this properly matters for our faith and our comfort.

Paul continues by describing God as “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.” These are not empty titles. The word “mercies” speaks to God’s compassion—his tender response to our pain and suffering. The word “comfort” carries the meaning of coming alongside someone to encourage and strengthen them.

This is the character of our God. He is not distant or indifferent to our pain. He is the God of all comfort, which means there is no situation, no trial, no affliction that falls outside his ability to comfort us. Whether we face the death of a loved one, betrayal in relationships, loss of employment, or persecution for our faith, God’s comfort is sufficient.

The text tells us that God “comforts us in all our affliction.” Not some affliction. Not only the big afflictions. All our affliction. This comprehensive comfort is grounded in who God is and what he has done for us in Christ. Our comfort is not based on changing circumstances, but on the unchanging character of God.

But Paul doesn’t stop there. He gives us the purpose for God’s comfort: “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.”

Here is a challenging truth: God allows us to go through difficulties not only for our own growth, but so that we might become instruments of his comfort to others. We are meant to be channels of God’s grace, not containers that hoard it for ourselves.

Consider two bodies of water in the Holy Land. The Sea of Galilee receives water from the Jordan River and gives it out again, teeming with life. The Dead Sea receives water but has no outlet, resulting in stagnant, lifeless water. The question for each of us is, which are we? Do we receive God’s comfort and pass it on, or do we hoard it for ourselves?

When we comfort others, we discover something remarkable. Sometimes we encourage people who are facing trials we have never personally experienced. How is this possible? Because ultimately, the comfort doesn’t come from our experiences—it comes from God himself and his word. Our experiences matter when they exalt Christ and his word, but the power is in Scripture, not in our personal history.

This is not experience-based counselling, but Christ-centred biblical counselling that exalts God’s word above our experiences. Yes, we can learn from one another’s experiences, but only insofar as those experiences point us to Christ and his sufficiency.

Sometimes, God allows situations in our lives where our only comfort is, not resolution to the problem, not healing of disease, not restoration of the relationship, but the fact that we are in Christ.

As Hebrews 4:15-16 reminds us, “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Christ himself suffered. He was crucified and died, then he rose from the dead. Because he has walked through suffering, he can comfort us in ours. And because we are united to him, nothing can separate us from his love—not tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword.

The Heidelberg Catechism asks: “What is your only comfort in life and in death?” The answer captures the heart of Christian hope: “That I am not my own, but belong, body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour, Jesus Christ.”

As we face the trials of life, may we learn to praise God for who he is—the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. May we receive his comfort in our afflictions, not as an end in itself, but as a means to comfort others. And may we rest in the truth that our ultimate comfort is found not in changed circumstances, but in Christ himself.

God ordains difficult times in our lives so that we can know him, praise him, and become vessels of blessing to those who suffer. Don’t waste your suffering. God is working through you. Be a channel of his comfort to others, and find your hope not in the resolution of your trials, but in the One who has overcome the world.