Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

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 will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.  ⁵ For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.  ⁶ But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;  ⁷ and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.”  2 Corinthians 1:1-7.

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Comfort is the theme of today’s Scripture.  Comfort is mentioned 10 times.  In summary, “our comfort is abundant through Christ.”  Verse 5.

Even though we do experience afflictions a/k/a sufferings, God comforts us in “all” our afflictions a/k/a sufferings.  Verse 4.  And, God causes our afflictions to be for the comfort and salvation of others.  Verse 5.  Through God’s grace, we can patiently endure the sufferings.  Verse 6.

Comfort a/k/a consolation is also a theme of our Reformed Confessions.

Here is an example from The Heidelberg Catechism –

Question 1.  What is thy only comfort in life and death?

Answer.  That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ;  who, with his precious blood, hath fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil;  and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head;  yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.

Question 2.  How many things are necessary for thee to know, that thou, enjoying this comfort, mayest live and die happily?

Answer.  Three;  the first, how great my sins and miseries are;  the second, how I may be delivered from all my sins and miseries;  the third, how I shall express my gratitude to God for such deliverance. 

Here is an example from The Canons of Dordt –

Article 6.  That some receive the gift of faith from God, and others do not receive it proceeds from God’s eternal decree, “For known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world,” Acts 15:18.  “Who worketh all things after the counsel of his will,” Ephesians 1:11.  According to which decree, he graciously softens the hearts of the elect, however obstinate, and inclines them to believe, while he leaves the non-elect in his just judgment to their own wickedness and obduracy.  And herein is especially displayed the profound, and merciful, and at the same time the righteous discrimination between men, equally involved in ruin;  or that decree of election and reprobation, revealed in the Word of God, which though men of perverse, impure and unstable minds wrest to their own destruction, yet to holy and pious souls affords unspeakable consolation.   

Article 14.  As the doctrine of divine election by the most wise counsel of God, was declared by the prophets, by Christ himself, and by the apostles, and is clearly revealed in the Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament, so it is still to be published in due time and place in the Church of God, for which it was peculiarly designed, provided it be done with reverence, in the spirit of discretion and piety, for the glory of God’s most holy name, and for enlivening and comforting his people, without vainly attempting to investigate the secret ways of the Most High.  Acts 20:27;  Romans 11:33,34; 12:3;  Hebrews 6:17,18.

Here is an example from The Belgic Confession –

Article 13:  Of Divine Providence.

We believe that the same God, after he had created all things, did not forsake them, or give them up to fortune or chance, but that he rules and governs them according to his holy will, so that nothing happens in this world without his appointment:  nevertheless, God neither is the author of, nor can be charged with, the sins which are committed.  For his power and goodness are so great and incomprehensible, that he orders and executes his work in the most excellent and just manner, even then, when devils and wicked men act unjustly.  And, as to what he doth surpassing human understanding, we will not curiously inquire into, farther than our capacity will admit of;  but with the greatest humility and reverence adore the righteous judgments of God, which are hid from us, contenting ourselves that we are disciples of Christ, to learn only those things which he has revealed to us in his Word, without transgressing these limits.  This doctrine affords us unspeakable consolation, since we are taught thereby that nothing can befall us by chance, but by the direction of our most gracious and heavenly Father;  who watches over us with a paternal care, keeping all creatures so under his power, that not a hair of our head (for they are all numbered), nor a sparrow, can fall to the ground, without the will of our Father, in whom we do entirely trust;  being persuaded, that he so restrains the devil and all our enemies, that without his will and permission, they cannot hurt us.  And therefore we reject that damnable error of the Epicureans, who say that God regards nothing, but leaves all things to chance.