The contrast between Paul’s circumstances in 2 Corinthians 1 and 2 Corinthians 12 is very striking. In chapter 1 he is in human circumstances, surrounded by straits, difficulties and dangers, which came upon him from without. But in chapter 12 he is seen altogether in God’s circumstances, taken up into the third heaven, into Paradise, and then, as a consequence, crippled by a thorn in the flesh and sent back into this world to go through it as a poor, broken, shattered vessel. Yet he was never so efficient for God’s purpose as when in this weakness, so much so that when his first thoughts are set aside by communion, he bows to the stroke and says, “Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor. 12:99And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)). It is marvelous to see clearly how this alters everything with us; even a Paul is changed from beseeching the Lord thrice that it might depart from him, to not only accepting it, but glorying in it!
The Source
In the beginning of chapter 1, it is striking how Paul begins in the opposite way to that which marks us generally. It is natural to us to start with our own troubles, and then to go on to tell of the comfort ministered by God to us, but the Apostle begins with the “Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies,” thus beginning, not at the stream, but the blessed fountainhead Himself. Then he comes down to the stream, “that we may be able to comfort.” It makes an immense difference at what end we begin. The human need, however great, is no measure of His comfort.
It is blessed, amid all that we meet with in the wilderness, to know there was One, but only One, who tasted unmeasured trouble and sorrow; in our case it is all measured, and with skill and care too. He does not place on the vessel any weight beyond what it can bear: He knows exactly its capacity, and He gives also His power, His strength, to sustain. All goes on under His hands; no amount even of God-given consolation in the midst of the troubles here could ever be the measure of His heart.
Paul starts from the source of all, even from the blessed God Himself, in whom is perfect fullness and divine sufficiency. Then he comes down to what is ministered from this source through vessels of sovereign choice; that which he himself had passed through was the needed preparation for this ministry through him. What a ministry! Exercises of heart within, pressure and difficulty without, all made tributary to its discharge.
The Servant Is Afflicted
But, further, see how the Corinthians were in the mind of the blessed God, hence the servant is afflicted, is passed through heights and depths of trial, through every variety of circumstance (2 Cor. 11:22-3322Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. 23Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. 24Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 28Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. 29Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? 30If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. 31The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not. 32In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: 33And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands. (2 Corinthians 11:22‑33)), in order that in him there might be displayed the power of Christ, and that the very same power might go out through him and reach them.
Thus, too, the servant himself learns what God is to him in such moments, both what the Lord can be and do. So the Apostle says, “At my first answer no man stood with me.” He was forsaken by all, yet not a hard thought rested in his breast. “I pray God it may not be laid to their charge.” But then, mark well what follows: “Nevertheless the Lord stood with me and strengthened me.” His presence comes first — “The Lord stood with me” — afterwards what the Lord did for His servant — “and strengthened me” (2 Tim. 4:16-1716At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. 17Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. (2 Timothy 4:16‑17)).
The “Needs Be”
Then, besides, there is a reason, a “needs be” for all these afflictions and conflicts. First, on our side, it is “that we should not trust in ourselves”; this is a great point. Those who know their own heart know the deep-seated confidence in self which lies rooted there. We must go into the darkness of the grave, as it were, and pass into the tomb, that we may come forth in the bloom of resurrection. Thus we sow in tears to reap in joy. Heaviness endures for a night, but joy comes in the morning.
Then, further, there is a “needs be” on God’s side for all these siftings and trials: They are His opportunities to display Himself in the love that never forgets His own. He draws near at such moments and makes Himself known as “the God of all comfort” — these are His own gracious words in a past day, and they are not less true today. Thus He turns the sorrows and afflictions of these poor scenes to His own account, displaying in them a tenderness and a compassion that overlooks none. He delights to show how He can heal a broken heart, as well as sustain a weak body. The first is not beyond Him; the second is not beneath Him.
Thus it is that we are educated and trained in God’s school, in order that as servants and vessels of His own, we may be fit for His use. Everything must be fully tested and proved. If we are walking with God in the secret life of our souls within, we must be conscious how little we are able to help one another. It is painful to observe how well able we are at finding out the weak points in one another, but the ability through grace to remove these is another thing. How blessed the service which has such an object and is rendered in such a spirit! Whatever the call or demand, whether comfort or consolation, all alike flows in the grace of Christ, from him who has learned it in God’s school. One who has, as it were, walked around in the great hospital of suffering which this present world is and, having tasted the balm of consolation himself which the Father of mercies and God of all comfort has ministered to him, is able to comfort those who are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith he himself is comforted of God. May our hearts, by His Spirit’s power, be divinely receptive of such blessed ways of our Father God, for Christ’s sake.
W. T. Turpin (adapted)