God Is For You
It seems like there are times preachers forget what it is like for you during the week. How tough it is at work, w/ family issues, health situations, & 1k other things that weigh you down. Many come to worship seeking hope… looking for encouragement… & they long to encounter God. 2 Cor 1:3-7…
Blessed be the God & Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies & God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, w/ the comfort w/ which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so thru Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort & salvation; & if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
When I read that passage I realize the Holy Spirit thru Paul wants believers to know there IS comfort in this life. Notice that our God is the “Father of mercies & God of all comfort.” No exception clauses. In fact, all exceptions are excluded in vs 4, “Who comforts us in ALL our affliction.”
Loss of job? Loss of child or spouse… material possessions… health? Reputation attacked… regret foolish mistakes? Have you sought to serve Christ but because you have life got harder? According to this passage, GOD has… is… & will comfort you! There’s not a “you must first” attached to God’s comfort. THAT you are His child is enough for Him to comfort you!
Think of a toddler learning to walk. They lose their balance, fall, & skin their knee… crying in fear & pain. Does the parent chide the child for falling? NO! They pick them up & comfort them until the trauma has passed. Now, if we who are evil know how to do such, how much more our heavenly Father!
An interesting thing about experiencing God’s comfort is affliction. In God’s wisdom, those who are afflicted experience a greater intimacy w/ Him than those who don’t suffer. Ps 119:67…
Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.
71 It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.
When & how God comforts believers is to be shared w/ others who are afflicted (Vs 4b). It’s not hard. Look around. There are many people who struggle, you can throw a rock & hit one. Seek them out like Onesiphorus did w/ Paul as found in 2 Tim 1:16-17…
May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me & was not ashamed of my chains, 17 but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly & found me—
But let’s move on. In Is 33:21 it is written, “The Lord in majesty will be for us!” Four words, “WILL BE FOR US.” Who is “for us?” The Lord… Sovereign God… Creator… Sustainer… Giver of life… The Eternal Omniscient Loving Father! As it is written… Jer 32:26-2
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 27 “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for Me?
Jer 32:16 I prayed to the Lord, saying: 17 ‘Ah, Lord God! It is you who has made the heavens & earth by your great power & by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for You.
Eph 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think…
THIS is the God who is on YOUR SIDE as His child! “No GOOD THING does He keep back from those (Who are in Christ)” {Ps 84:11}. He loves you too much to let any harmful thing come into your life. He loves you too much to allow the enemy to destroy you. He loves you so much that every single thing that comes into your life has been weighed by Him & willed to be good!
“Just because we don’t see how something can be good doesn’t mean it isn’t good” (Keller).
The God who created the universe be speaking is on your side! Ever seen pictures of deep space from the Hubble Telescope? God created all that we can see (And can’t see) to show us how infinitely powerful He is. Now, the one who created the universe IS THE ONE who is FOR YOU!
GOD… the one who has the right to do whatever He so desires… is on your side. He isn’t against you, he is FOR YOU. Consider another passage from Is 64:4, “Who has seen a God like this, who works for those who wait for him?”
All the other gods (Little “g”), require things to please him. But not the C’ian God! He is different from all others. In Elijah’s confrontation w/ the prophets of Baal, they cut themselves, prayed, & did all kinds of crazy things (1 Ki 18). All Jehovah God requires is faith in Him thru His Son Jesus…
Let’s stop & think. 1) What can God do? 2) Why? 3) Who’s side is He on? Everyone who is a believer in His Son Jesus Christ!
Can you think of anything… ANYTHING… that is more wonderful than that? Is there anything higher… more significant… more amazing than to KNOW that GOD (!) is for you… on your side?! That is one of them most comforting, assuring, & delightful than that?
But there’s more! Ro 8:31… “If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also w/ Him graciously give us all things?
Some passages we need to slow down & meditate on. The best thing we can do is read it slowly, over & over… time after time… driving it deep into our soul until it sticks. Ro 8:31-32 is one of those.
Did you notice in the first phrase the words we’ve been discussing… “For us?!” The point of Paul’s question is over the top. Said another way, “Since God is for us, no one can defeat us.” I like that!
2nd thought. God gave to all who believe THE most precious thing He had… His Son. Now b/c God has given His most precious possession, there is nothing greater He can give to us. Everything else pales in significance. THEREFORE…
B/C God has already give the one thing that means the most to Him, there is no reason for Him to keep back from us anything else THAT IS GOOD FOR US. He does this not b/c He has to, but b/c of His amazing grace to undeserving sinners whom His son redeemed.
Now let’s begin winding this down. Let’s make it personal for us today… where we are… where we live… in our context & circumstances. believe God for YOUR SITUATIONS.
Think of whatever it is that burdens your heart. Family? Job? Health? Whatever… Now…
Is there hope? Is there a reason to be joyful? Is there a reason to be at peace… in the midst of the most severe of circumstances? I say the answer is YES! Why?
- Nothing is too hard for God…
- God is able to do exceeding & abundantly above all we ask or imagine…
- No good thing does God w/hold from those who are (In Christ)…
- Our God is the GOD OF ALL COMFORT…
- God comforts us in ALL OUR AFFLICTION…
- B/c God is for us, no one can be against us…
- Thus Ro 8:37-39, “In all these things we are more than conquerors thru Him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death… life… angels… rulers… things present… things to come… powers… 39 height… depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
God doesn’t promise to take hard things away… but He is on your side & will comfort you. Get that! GOD IS ON YOUR SIDE! He is not against you! If you are a child of God, EVERYTHING that happens is for your ultimate good… no matter what it is!
God IS for you! Believe Him! Trust Him! God IS on your side… regardless of the LIE SATAN TRIES TO TELL YOU. Listen to the words of the hymn “How Firm A Foundation”:
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?
The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.