Daily Devotional • June 9
A Reading from 2 Corinthians 1:1-11
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, 4 who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ. 6 If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation.
8 We do not want you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, of the affliction we experienced in Asia, for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again, 11 as you also join in helping us by your prayers, so that many may give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
Meditation
There is much to bemoan about friends’ and strangers’ attempts at consoling us when we are in pain. Unhelpful and even offensive words flow out of well-meaning lips with an astounding frequency.
And yet we are in need of consolation—of comfort. We are the walking wounded. And if you doubt that those around you are fellow members of the walking wounded, then you haven’t heard their story yet.
In our text from 2 Corinthians today, we are told that God is the God of all consolation—of all comfort—and that he himself consoles us.
Yesterday, we celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit—the paraclete, the comforter. The God of all comfort has sent his Spirit of comfort to dwell in us, to wipe every tear from our eyes. The depth of that promise is astounding; its applications are profound.
I often find myself rushing to ring a family member when life turns pear-shaped. While I am grateful for their present comfort and see it as a gift from God, I always wonder what comfort God might be ready to show me directly. I wonder about the shape and volume of the bottle where God holds all my tears (Is. 56:8). I wonder what it might mean to entrust myself to the Paraclete.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God.
Hannah Howland lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her husband, Curtis. They enjoy discussing their supremely different interests and eating ice cream. She is an aspirant in the Diocese of Christ our Hope.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Diocese of Multan – The Church of Pakistan (United)
Christ Episcopal Church, San Antonio
