“Why did I lose my job? Why did I get sick? Why did my husband or wife leave me? Why did my loved one have to die?” Whenever we encounter grief or loss, we instinctively try to make sense out of it. We try to find some meaning or purpose in our pain. Is God trying to teach us a lesson? Is He trying to punish us for some reason?

Well, it’s often the case that when we can’t find the answers we seek, it’s because we are asking the wrong questions. And so, instead of focusing on ourselves and on what suffering might mean for us, Paul would have us turn our attention outward, to the blessing that our suffering can provide for others. For, as verse 4 says, the fact is that God comforts us in our afflictions at least in part so that we might be able to turn around and offer the same sort of comfort to others who are going through the same sorts of suffering. Our sorrow and pain can thus provide others a tremendous blessing, giving those who encounter the same difficult situations the support and encouragement they need, as anyone who has attended a twelve-step group can attest.

But suffering can also bring great blessings to us. As Paul explains in verse 8, on one occasion he became completely overwhelmed with the demands of his ministry and with the constant opposition that came at him from all sides. But instead of remaining in despair, Paul was forced to rely less on himself and more on God (v. 9). And because God delivered him from that particular crisis, Paul’s faith in God grew stronger – he became even more firmly convinced that God would deliver him again and again, eventually even from death itself on the day of resurrection (v. 10).

But why should we Christians be surprised that our grief and loss can bring blessings both to us and to those around us? For as Paul reminds us in verse 5, whatever pain we might experience is simply a sharing in the sufferings of Christ – sufferings that were much greater than anything we could ever experience, and sufferings that brought the blessing not just of sympathy and strength but of salvation for all who would trust in Him.

So, if we would draw closer to Christ, and if we would desire Him to bless others through our words and deeds, maybe the suffering we experience is just part of the package, part of the way Jesus continues to reveal Himself to a suffering world.

II Corinthians 1:1-24 (ESV)

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of 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 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, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and 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.
8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.
9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.
11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
12 For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.
13 For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand–
14 just as you did partially understand us– that on the day of our Lord Jesus you will boast of us as we will boast of you.
15 Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace.
16 I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea.
17 Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time?
18 As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No.
19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes.
20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.
21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us,
22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
23 But I call God to witness against me– it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth.
24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.