FOR SUNDAY : A MEASURE OF HEALING

[cimi]

september 14
Saturday


A MEASURE
OF HEALING

READ:
2 Corinthians 1:3-7
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This is my comfort in
my affliction, for Your
Word has given me life.
__Psalm 119:50
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When I asked a friend how she was doing 4 years after the sudden death of her husband, she said, "I feel I am healing. Tears tend to burn my eyes rather than pour down my face. To me, that is a measure of healng."

How fitting are those words to describe the changes that happen as the years pass for grievers who have endured an unexpectd loss.

Scripture promises comfort in our suffering (2 Cor. 1:3-7), but that help does not come all at once. In fact, from what I have heard, our desired healing may not arrive completely in this life. This is what others tell me who are further down the road of grief than our family is, 6 years after losing our teenager Melissa. In the midst of our pain, we entrust our lives to God's sovereign direction, but we also realize that gnawing sadness will always reside in our hearts.

Indeed, God has promised that He will wipe away all tears in heaven (Rev. 7:17), but until then the healing will be incomplete. Grief lessens but does not dissipate. The psalmist said that while God's Word gives life, there is still the combination of "comfort in my affliction" (P.s. 119:50). Even in life's toughest circumstances, we can, with God's help, enjoy a measure of healing. __Dave Branon
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``````````````I have been through the valley of weeping,```````````
```````````````````The valley of sorrow and pain;`````````````````
```````````````But the God of all comfort was with me,`````````````
```````````````At hand to uphold and sustain. __Anon.`````````````
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The God who washed away our sins
will also wipe away our tears!

**************Today's Bible reading __ 2 Corinthians 1:3-7**********

3 Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus
christ, the Father of
mercies and God of all
comfort, 4 who comfots us
in all our tribulation, that
we may be able to comfort
those who are in any
trouble, with the comfort
with which we ourselves
are comforted by God. 5 For
as the sufferings of Christ
abound in us, so our
consolation also abounds
through Christ. 6 Now if we
are afflicted, it is for your
consolation and salvation,
which is effective for
enduring the same
sufferings which we also
suffer. Or if we are
comforted, it is for your
consolation and salvation.

7 And our hope for you is
steadfast, because we know
that as you are partakers of
the sufferings, so also you
will partake of the
consolation.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

The word translated "comfort" (2 cor. 1:4) is parakaleo. In this
passage it means "called alongside to help." The term was used
both for empathy and for exhortation. In ancient Greece the word
described a funeral in which sympathetic friends listened to those
who mourned. Later, the term was used by the apostle paul as an
exhortation to live up to the high calling of God: "I, therefore, the
prisoner of the Lord, beseech (parakaleo) you to walk worthy of
the calling with which you were called" (Eph. 4:1). Discernment is
necessary to know when people need empathy and when they need
exhortation. __Dennis Fisher