Grace to YOU and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. ·Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all encouragement [Gr. parakleesis] , ·who encourages us in all our pressures, that we may be able to encourage those who are facing all kinds of pressures, through the encouragement by which we ourselves are encouraged by God. ·For as the sufferings of Christ multiply in us, so also our encouragement multiplies through the Messiah. ·Yet if we are afflicted it is for YOUR encouragement and salvation. And if we are encouraged it is for YOUR encouragement—producing patient endurance—in the same sufferings which we also suffer. ·And our hopes about YOU are confirmed, knowing that as YOU are companions in the sufferings, so are YOU also in the encouragement. (2 Corinthians 1:2-7 PH)

For, brothers and sisters, we do not want YOU to be ignorant of the pressures that came about for us in Asia, which involved us carrying huge burdens beyond our strength, such that we despaired even of life. ·We had on ourselves the sentence of death, so that we could not trust in ourselves, but only in God who raises the dead. ·He delivered us from such a death and is delivering us. In him we hope that he will again deliver us, ·so that by YOUR co-operation in prayer for us—the gift directed towards us coming from many persons—there will also be much thanksgiving for us. (1:8-11)

And this is our boast, witnessed by our conscience, that our behavior towards YOU in the world went ‘above and beyond’: in generosity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God. ·For we write nothing to YOU other than that which YOU read and acknowledge—and I trust will acknowledge even to the end, ·as also YOU, in part, have acknowledged us—that we are YOUR boast in the day of our Lord Jesus, even as YOU also are ours… ·For the Son of God, Jesus the Messiah, proclaimed among YOU by us… has become ‘Yes!’ ·And whatever the Yes!-promises of God in him, through him also come the ‘Amen!’ to the glory of God by us. ·Now God—the One who establishes us together with YOU into Christ, and who has anointed us— ·has also sealed us and given the deposit of the Spirit in our hearts. (1:12-14,19-22)

In this passage Paul shares not only some facts about his most recent troubles, but also something of his experience of those sufferings—the pressure, even the despair as he felt Death very near. Note that Paul does not write only about his deliverance. That is the world’s way of doing things—relating to others only through our 'successes'. Rather, Paul is honest about his own weakness and need of encouragement in his sufferings because he knows that this will give others the strength and patience to endure their own sufferings.

Paul was able to share his weakness with others because of the encouragement and the grace and peace that he received from his Father! And he received this encouragement, first of all, by faith in the Father's character as revealed in the Scriptures: for example, that God's deepest attitude towards human beings is mercy—a compassion that flows out of his love for us as our Father (Ps.103:8,13, Med.#B). How tragic that this biblical picture of the Father is so opposite to what is frequently preached from church pulpits. Jesus himself perfectly reflected his Father's merciful character in his compassionate actions; and he taught that God's adult sons and daughters should grow up to reflect their Father's merciful character as well (Med.#12).

Secondly, Paul drew ‘encouragement’ [Gr. parakleesis] directly from his Father through the Holy Spirit. Jesus used a variation of this word to describe the Holy Spirit, as another ‘Advocate’ [Gr. parakleetos] from the Father—one who would ‘come alongside’ us like Jesus did, but this time ‘forever’ (Jn.14:16, Med.#51). By using a form of para-kleesis ten times in our text—and the word for deliverance only twice—Paul seems to be more impressed by his Father's presence with him during his suffering than he is with the final act of deliverance from it. So when we experience suffering, we must remember that we are not alone.

Think of Jesus coming from the Father into a suffering world—how he shared our vulnerability and suffering, then redeemed and transformed it, and finally set in motion the process that will bring us total renewal and deliverance. Think also of the ‘fourth person’ who suddenly appeared in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Dan.3:24-25). Think of God's words through the prophet Isaiah: ‘When you pass through the waters, I will be with you...’ (Is.43:2-3). Having the Holy Spirit means that our Father is always with us (Jn.14:23) in our suffering—even when we, like Paul, feel overwhelmed and ready to give up.

So, thirdly, our Father also transforms our sufferings even before he delivers us from them. As he comes alongside us at such times, he connects us to Jesus in such a way that our sufferings are transformed into an overflow of his sufferings. This is why Paul could consider his sufferings to be a privilege (Phil.1:29-30)—not because suffering in itself is good, but because sharing in Christ's suffering is an important part of our being co-heirs with him, and of being adult sons and daughters of our Father (Med.#5).  

Fourth, like Jesus we too can always count on our Father to eventually deliver us from our suffering. But like Paul, we must learn that this deliverance depends on our Father’s resurrection power, not on our own power—not even on the power of our faith! Just look at Jesus, the one with the greatest faith! Even when he expressed his faith in his Father, that ‘everything is possible with you’ (Mk.14:36, Med.#39), he was still not delivered from his suffering very quickly. Nevertheless, his Father did answer him: by sending an angel to strengthen him, and by not leaving him alone even on the cross (Lk.22:43, Med.39; Jn.16:32, Med.#41). In the next six meditations we will examine Jesus' relationship with his Father in the face of suffering.

Fifthly, Paul's confidence in his Father was focused on his Father's ultimate exercise of ‘resurrection’ power in his life more than it was on deliverance from suffering. For he experienced the former in Asia, yet—at the time of this letter—had not yet experienced deliverance from his ‘thorn in the flesh’ (Med.#34). Paul could rejoice in Christ's resurrection power in his life while still experiencing a painful ‘weakness’, because he was confident in his final bodily resurrection with Jesus. This hope is also what helped him to not lose heart in the face of his daily ‘troubles’. And the main evidence of this resurrection power at work in our lives is the Holy Spirit, who by our faith empowers us to not be dominated by the pain we feel or see (2 Cor.4:16-5:7).

Finally, this work of the Holy Spirit and our Father’s encouragement produce a transformation in us. We begin to exhibit the fruit of ‘patient endurance’ as we live in a broken world where deliverance doesn't come right away. We also gain understanding and hope, empowering us to pray in faith for others who are suffering. But our prayers will only be of help to them if we can be honest about our own weakness in suffering. And if we are able to teach them the Father's character and way of answering: how he first comes alongside us to encourage us during our suffering, how he transforms our suffering by his resurrection power through identification with Christ’s suffering, and how he then both delivers us and transforms us—both of which don’t often happen as quickly as we would like.