Read 2 Corinthians 1:3–7

With an eerie simplicity, George Barnard Shaw wrote:

The statistics on death are quite impressive. One out of one people die.

But what about those who live on? Those who try to pick up the pieces? As a pastor, I’ve stood by many bedsides of a loved one who had passed into eternity with my arms around the family members left to imagine life without them. There are no easy words. No magical expressions to make the sting of death disappear. But God knows all of that. In fact, He encourages us who have also suffered to represent Him in such moments:

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us. (2 Corinthians 1:3-7)

You are never more like God when you are available to those who suffer. I urge you to be available for the long haul to that one who is grieving a devastating loss of a loved one. To the family whose lives have been upended by financial setback. Everybody comes around the first day or two. But what about a month later? What about a year later...after the grass has grown over the grave? Be committed to comforting later as well as now. You never know when the tables may turn, and you will need that arm around your shoulder.

Devotional content taken from Good Morning, Lord...Can We Talk? by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2018. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a division of Tyndale House Ministries. All rights reserved.