When I blog about suffering I do not write about the subject theoretically.
A couple of years ago I had a chalazion removed from my right eyelid. Well, it recently decided to pay a return visit, and with a bang. Two nights ago I went to bed with a medium-sized chalazion in my eyelid. In the morning I awoke to an eye swollen completely shut. I'd post a pic but I'm not that crude. (If you've ever seen Charles Laughton in the old black-and-white movie Hunchback of Notre Dame, you'd get the idea.) My ophthalmologist tells me he can't remove the chalazion until the swelling goes down. Until then, life consists of dexamethasone eye drops, antibiotics, and warm compresses.
As I often do when I'm facing difficulty, this morning I turned to the first chapter of 2 Corinthians. I'm sure you've often done the same thing. Interestingly, the focus is not on how hard life is. It's on how great God is. Ten times in verses 3-7 the word "comfort" appears.
The word conveys the idea of personal care and attention. God is the one who comforts us in and through all of our suffering. The paragraph opens with the words, "Blessed be God." What a great attitude to face difficulty with. God is none other than the "Father of mercies" and the "God of all comfort." I love that little word "all." It covers all of my afflictions and all of yours. God is with us in the midst of all our "whys." He will be there when I commemorate what would have been my 48th wedding anniversary in 7 days. He'll be with us when my family commemorates Becky's passing into eternity 11 years ago this November. As he has done every year since her death, he'll remind us, "I never left. Just lean on me. Just stay near. Let me comfort you."
I love how the Living Bible renders verse 3: "What a wonderful God we have -- he is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of every mercy, and the one who is wonderfully comforting and strengthening us in our hardships and trials." Not a word of complaint. Just praise.
I don't know that any of us would grow deeper in our walk with God if it wasn't for these trials we experience. I'll see the doctor again tomorrow. I'm hoping he can excise the monster. Even if he can't, I know that God will continue to use the stuff of ordinary life to expose my weaknesses and to develop my character.
Blessed be God.